Revive Your Skin, Renew Your Life: Skin Grafting in India

Skin grafting in India

Skin grafting involves the transfer of healthy skin tissue on one side of the body (known as the donor site) to the portion of the body where the skin was lost or destroyed (known as the recipient site).

It is commonly done for:

• Severe burns
• Large sores or unhealing ulcers.
• Surgical treatment of skin cancer (follow-up treatment)
• Loss of skin due to trauma or infections.
• Reconstructive procedures

Types of Skin Grafts

Split-thickness skin graft (STSG)

• Contained within are the upper two layers of skin (epidermis and some dermis).
• Usually applied to large injuries and burns.
• Recovers fairly fast at the site of donation.
• May have a different texture/color than rest of skin.

Full-thickness skin graft (FTSG)

• Affects the whole epidermis and dermis.
• Applied on smaller parts of the body (i.e., face, hands) that requires more cosmetic effects to be achieved.
• Stitching is required to heal a donor site.

Composite grafts

• Around skin plus fat, cartilage or other tissue.
• Applied to complex reconstructions (e.g. nose, ear).

Procedure Overview

• Preparation of wound bed (Should be infection-free, well-supplied with blood).
• A skin donor site (usually thigh, buttock, abdomen or forearm) is used.
• The graft is fixed over the recipient site and fastened with sutures, staples, or dressing.
• Both receiver and donor points are well-dressed in order to facilitate healing.

Healing and Recovery

• Recipient site: at first red and swollen, gradually fades over several weeks.
• Donor site: Superficial wound; heals in 12 weeks (split-thickness) or more (full-thickness).
• Graft can be close to a joint and physical therapy may be necessary.
• Final appearance may vary in texture and pigmentation as well as in thickness.

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Best skin grafting surgeons in India

• Dr. Vipul Nanda
• Dr. Pradeep Kumar Singh
• Dr. Rakesh Kumar Khazanchi
• Dr. Sunil Choudhary

Factors Affecting Skin grafting cost in India

The following is an elegant summary of the main elements that affect the price of skin grafting in India:

Type & Size of Graft

• Split-thickness vs. full thickness: The full-thickness grafts are more expensive because they require more complexity. 
• The bigger size of grafts or different grafts consumes more resources and is more expensive. 

Place & Health Care Facilities

• Prices differ depending on the city: Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore are more expensive. 
• Pricing is also motivated by hospital infrastructure and the presence of specialized burn/plastic surgery units. 

Type of Facility

• Hospitals that have modernized facilities and are privately owned are more expensive than Government hospitals. 
• Well known chains such as Apollo, Fortis, Medanta and Max generally charge high rates. 

Surgeon’s Expertise

• Very experienced or well-known surgeons charge more. 

Anaesthesia

• General anaesthesia is costlier than local or regional anaesthesia. 

Pre- and Post-operative Care

• This covers consultations, laboratory tests, examinations, drugs, dressings and follow-ups. 

Admission Preferences

• Room (e.g. general ward, twin sharing, a private room) greatly affects the price. 

Patient-Specific Factors

• Cost can be influenced by underlying conditions (e.g., diabetes, hypertension), age and general health status. 
• Other requirements such as blood products or long-term hospitalization are also costly. 
• In the case of non-local residents, subsequent travel or accommodation can make a difference. 

Complications

• Treatment of infections, graft rejection or delayed healing adds to the total cost. 

Donor Site Selection

• Certain donor zones can be more demanding or intricate to prepare, which affect prices.

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Top hospitals for skin grafting in India

• Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon
• Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon
• Medanta-The Medicity, Gurgaon
• Max Hospital, Saket

Factors Affecting Affordable skin grafting treatment in India

The main aspects influencing the cost of skin-grafting treatment in India:

Location & Healthcare Infrastructure

• Metro vs Tier-II cities: Metro area treatment is often more expensive as overheads, including real-estate and staffing, tend to be higher.
• Rivalry Among Hospitals: Cities that have a high number of providers can provide more competitive prices, and sometimes, the price can be lower, even in cities. 

Type & Size of Graft

• Type of grafts: some grafts, the full thickness grafts are more complex and expensive than split-thickness.
• Covered area: Multiple or larger graft sites consume more resources, making the procedure that much more expensive. 

Nature of the facility and the expertise of the surgeons

• Public vs Private Hospitals: Government hospitals or lesser clinics usually have cheaper alternatives to the premium private facilities.
• Hospital Tier: The highest tier hospitals such as Artemis, Medanta, Fortis etc are likely to be much more expensive.
• Surgeon: Highly experienced surgeons can charge higher fees which increase the expenses. 

Facility/Anaesthesia options

• Room Type: This is another area that can greatly decrease prices, by choosing shared rooms (general or twin-sharing) as opposed to personal rooms. 
• Anaesthesia: The work can reduce the costs by using local or regional anaesthesia rather than general. 

Pre- and Post-Operative Care

• Investigations & Follow-ups: Lab tests, imaging, medications and hospital stay costs increase depending on the thoroughness of care. 
• Complications: Controlling infection, graft rejection or prolonged hospitalization as a result of complications adds to overall expense. 

Health status and other requirements of the patient

• Underlying Health Conditions: Health problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure make healing difficult and costly in terms of their care. 
• Long-term follow-up: When you are not a local and have to make the travel or accommodation costs to visit the patient, it can increase the total costs.

Burn injury skin grafting in India

When severe burns occur and impair or destroy the skin layers, burn injury skin grafting is among the most common reconstructive procedures performed. It is applied when the skin is unable to heal itself, or when wounding would inflict gross scarring or contractures.

Why Skin Grafting for Burns?

• Deep partial-thickness or full thickness burns (severe burns) destroy the regenerative capacity of the skin.
• Massive burn areas must be covered to avoid infection, loss of fluid and scarring.
• Prevention of joint (elbows, knees, neck, etc.) contractures to improve function.
• Plastic surgery to make visible burns on face, hands or other exposed areas more appealing.

Types of Grafts Used in Burns

Split-thickness skin graft (STSG)

• Burn patients mostly affected.
• Contemplates epidermis + a portion of dermis.
• Sites of donation: buttocks, back, thigh.
• Meshed (woven with small holes) often to cover large areas.

Full-thickness skin graft (FTSG)

• Applied on the smaller visible parts (face, eyelids, hands).
• Gives it a superior feel and look.
• The donor site needs to be sutured.

Temporary skin substitutes (where there is not enough donor skin)

• Allograft (cadaver skin) - interim until autograft can be done.
• Xenograft (pig skin), temporary biological dressing.
• Synthetic/artificial skin substitutes e.g. Integra, Biobrane.

Burn Skin Grafting Procedure

Burn wound preparation

• Removed (surgical debridement) damaged/dead tissue.
• Wound should contain good tissue and blood supply.

Harvesting donor skin

• Removed in an unburned region (usually thigh, buttock, back).

Graft placement

• Graft superimposed on burn area, with or without meshing to increase area covered.
• Stapled, sutured or dressed.

Post-op care

• Graft site immobilization lasts 5 to 7 days.
• Infection-preventing dressings to help the wound heal.
• Dresses and heals in 1-2 weeks (if STSG).

Also read: Best Knee Replacement Surgery in India – Everything You Should Know

Skin grafting in India with GetWellGo

GetWellGo is regarded as a leading supplier of healthcare services. We help our foreign clients choose the best treatment locations that suit their needs both financially and medically.

We offer:

• Complete transparency
• Fair costs.
• 24 hour availability.
• Medical E-visas
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• Assistance in selecting India's top hospitals for Skin grafting treatment.
• Expert plastic surgeon/cosmetic surgeon with a strong track record of success
• Assistance during and after the course of treatment.
• Language Support
• Travel and Accommodation Services
• Case manager assigned to every patient to provide seamless support in and out of the hospital like appointment booking
• Local SIM Cards
• Currency Exchange
• Arranging Patient’s local food