While the patient is awake, sleepy (sedated), or deep asleep and pain-free (local anesthesia or general anesthesia), healthy skin is taken from the selected donor site on the patient's body using a dermatome (skin-cutting instrument).
Reviewed last on: 5/3/2007
Robert A. Cowles, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.