Scrubbing sponges as skin graft dressing: Safe, simple and quick

Skin grafting is a reliable and commonly used technique to cover skin defects due to multiple etiologies. The most common and used skin-graft dressing is the well known “tie-over dressing”, made of sterile gauzes or sterile sponge, on the top of a tulle gras sheet, stabilized with loop sutures. The use of surgical sponge provides homogenous pressure over the graft reducing the risk of complications such as hematoma or seroma formation between the skin-graft and the recipient bed. Furthermore, the residual povidone-iodine in the sponge is an anti-infection agent, so it may protect the skin graft from bacterial colonization. The use of this technique provides many advantages: low cost, appropriate protection of the graft and the pressure is evenly distributed. Furthermore it gives an antibacterial shield thanks to the residual povidone-iodine in the sponge. Lastly it is a fast tecnique and reduce the patient post-operative discomfort. This method, although effective, has disadvantages: once the tie-over dressing is in place, the surgeon cannot easily visualize the graft site to check for complications that may lead to partial or total graft loss. In conclusion, the combination of sterile scrubbing sponges with skin surgical staples can be an affordable, time saving and reliable alternative to the commonly used sterilized rubber foam fixed by suture for skin graft tie over dressing.