Scalp as a skin graft donor site: Literature review and technical refinements

Abstract

Background. We carried out a literature review to evaluate the status of the scalp as a donor site and examine claims that the scalp donor site in black patients was less suitable than in other races.

Objectives. To ascertain whether the finding that using the scalp as a donor site was less successful in black patients than in other races was credible.

Methods. A Pubmed search was done for ‘scalp as donor site in burns’. There were 91 hits for the period 1977 - 2020.

Results. Twenty-three articles were included for the final review. Of the 23 articles identified, 13 included ≥28 patients. Of these 13 larger articles, the number presumed to have a multiracial population of patients was 7. Of the 7 studies, only 1 study found a noticeable difference in hair growth in all their white patients but none in the black patients.

Conclusion. We did an extensive literature review of the scalp as a donor site and found that most authors found it to be an excellent donor site irrespective of race. The report that complications of scalp grafting are related to racial issues such as hair structure by a burn centre in South Africa is not supported by the literature or by another burn centre in the same city.