Free Skin Grafts in Dogs: A Review

The document reviews the practice of skin grafting in dogs, highlighting its goal to promote early healing of large skin defects with improved cosmetic outcomes and proper hair growth. It notes that while some wounds can heal with basic care and suturing, extensive wounds often require additional interventions such as plastic surgery. Despite advancements in techniques and devices, the core principle of successful skin grafting remains the creation of a healthy, vascular, and infection-free granulating wound bed. The document emphasizes the critical importance of graft adherence to the recipient bed for graft survival and mentions ongoing research to enhance this process. It also discusses the use of biological and synthetic skin substitutes, including the incorporation of growth factors in Platelet Rich Plasma. Various grafting techniques such as pinch, full thickness, mesh, partial thickness, strip, pedicle grafts, and skin flaps have been used in both clinical and experimental settings on animals. However, the document points out a lack of extensive literature on the subject in animals. It concludes that while skin grafts are still the most common and minimally invasive option for closing soft tissue defects, the search for improved methods continues.