If an obese person who lost weight.......?!
Question: and wanted to get their excess skin removed, do they or can they use that extra skin for burn victims?
Answers: and wanted to get their excess skin removed, do they or can they use that extra skin for burn victims?
The answer is yes, you CAN donate extra skin. I've included the following article for you to read and it's source.
What you will need to do is let your plastic surgeon know about this and they can make the phone call to the national burn center and then they can assist you with the paperwork if you have donor potential.
Read on:
Extra Skin from Cosmetic Surgery benefits Transplant Foundation
December 01, 2007 - Chandana Banerjee
We came across this interesting article in the Herald Review.
Vicki Henderson was dissatisfied with her appearance after the delivery of her son by Caesarian section, so she decided to do something about it.
"I hated that roll," she said. "I had a roll. I don't now."
Henderson, 37, consulted Dr. Emmanuella Joseph, a cosmetic and restorative surgeon, to see what could help her achieve her desired look and decided on a tummy tuck. But Joseph had something to ask in return: that Henderson donate the skin removed during the procedure to the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation.
Patients such as Henderson who are undergoing cosmetic procedures to remove excess skin can not only reap the benefits of an appearance-changing procedure but help others in the process. After a half-hour phone interview with the foundation to determine her donor eligibility, all Henderson had to give was her consent and that unwanted skin.
"I could help anybody," Henderson said. "Male, female, child, infant - anybody."
Because the product prepared from these donations is a framework skin's outer layer and cells are removed, any donor can give to any recipient.
"Underneath the very top layer, the epidermis, everyone has the same dermis, and it doesn't have any antigens on it, and you can't make antibodies to it," Joseph said. "So it makes the perfect grafting material that you can use without having to take immunosuppressive agents that are toxic."
Joseph has performed more than 20 procedures this year in which she has removed unwanted skin and sent it off to the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, which prepares the skin, freezes it for storage and coordinates the donations.
Donated skin, which used to come from cadavers, has been available from living donors for about a year, Joseph said.
The foundation sent Henderson a card thanking her.
"Through your generous gift, others will enjoy a better quality of life," it read.
Joseph said the extra time she spends counseling patients about the donation process and seeing them through the screening process is well worth the help their donations can provide.
"Once they've decided (to have surgery), and they pick the surgery date, then we tell them, 'you may donate,' " Joseph said. "And we give them that option, and I think everyone has said yes."
Joseph said the stigma of cosmetic surgery has been reduced in recent years as shows such as Nip/Tuck, Dr. 90210 and Extreme Makeover have glamorized the procedures on the small screen.
"It's more socially acceptable, but there are still people who don't want other people to know," Joseph said. She added that skin donation, although it is not the reason her patients have surgery, is an added bonus that makes many feel proud.
"I've always used AlloDerm," Joseph said of her experience working with dermal matrix. "I started using it way back in my training for burn surgery, and I saw so much success with that with people who would have died otherwise getting new skin, and actually their scars looking much better because we used this AlloDerm skin."
Joseph said one of the product's most interesting properties is that it is a regenerative matrix, meaning it allows surrounding cells to be incorporated into it.
"If you did a hernia repair two years ago and you go back in and take a biopsy of where you put that AlloDerm from another person, it will have incorporated into the tissues, and it will turn into skeletal muscle," Joseph said. "If you put bony matrix around it, you can make bone, and it can really turn into anything."
Donated skin is also used for burn victims, and the top layer of their own skin is placed over it.
One other procedure revolutionized by dermal matrix donations is single-stage breast reconstruction. Without the donations, a patient's skin would need to be stretched by a tissue expander for a period of time in order to accommodate the implant inserted following a mastectomy. The single-stage procedure reduces scarring, spares patient tissue and eliminates the need for multiple surgeries.
"We've done a lot of them, and women are totally happy because that's one surgery instead of three or four," Joseph said.
i suppose they can donate it. it would be a win win situation if they did.
I would like to know this answer too
I would hope they could do that - it's the green thing to do - like recycling.
i dunno i think that because its your excess skin i dont think it can be used because it would have stretched
Yes, just sign an organ donor card before the surgery.
umm...I am unsure
I know a lot of offices sell tissue..but is a serious process....ask your plastic surgeon what their process is.
both....u can get it surgically removed but u should concern your doctor first....i suggest keeping it on first and after maintaining it for at least 3 years have it removed
VERY VERY INTERESTING question..I have to come back to see what anyone will say.. I wonder if their skin skrinks back enough if they work out though...I don't know anyone that lost that much weight to have skin removed..It's an awesome idea if they could donate it though..Very GOOD question..A star for you..would give you more if they let me. I am an organ donor and I know they use skin too..
This is called skin banking. Skin is the best dressing to use on serious burns making the patient much more comfortable. It reduces the growth of bacteria and loss of critical fluid, and also improves a patient's morale and immunological state. Donated skin can make the difference between life and death, promoting healing of the wound bed while the patient's own skin is cultured for grafting. Without the donated skin used in the interim, many burns patients would die waiting for their own skin to be cultured for transplantation.
My dear friend, I don't think so it's not compatable on some one else, but I don't know this for a fact. GOD Bless you.
Yes, it can be used, although they now can grow skin or spray skin onto a burn victim ...
Believe it or not, they also use skin from dead donors ...
Yes, skin banks use many sources including tissue from surgeries and cadaver skin. There is always a risk that the recipient's body will reject foreign tissues which is why the recipient's own skin is preferred.
Thin sheets of skin shaved from the top layer of the victim's undamaged areas, cleaned and applied to damaged areas. Usual harvest areas are the thighs, back, abdomen and buttocks but any undamaged section of skin can be used.
Skin cultures are also taken from the patient and additional skin cells can be grown in the hospital's lab in thin sheets and used to cover the damaged portions of the patient's skin
thats a great idea