Background: Skin substitutes prepared from cultured skin cells and biopolymers may reduce requirements for donor skin autograft, and have been shown to be effective in treatment of excised burns, burn scars, and congenital skin lesions.
Data sources: Cultured skin substitutes (CSS) generate skin phenotypes (epidermal barrier, basement membrane) in the laboratory, and restore tissue function and systemic homeostasis. Healed skin is smooth, soft and strong, but develops irregular degrees of pigmentation. Quantitative analysis demonstrates that CSS closes 67 times the area of the donor skin, compared to less than 4 times for split-thickness skin autograft.
Conclusions: CSS reduce requirements for donor skin autograft for closure of excised, full-thickness cutaneous wounds, and demonstrate qualitative outcome that is not different from meshed, split-thickness autograft. These results offer reductions in morbidity and mortality for the treatment of burns and chronic wounds, and for cutaneous reconstruction.