Axial Pattern Skin Graft

Axial pattern skin grafts allow the movement of full thickness skin to cover large open healing wounds. It has its greatest advantage for covering very large wounds that are extremely hard to heal with contraction and epithelialization and wound covering very movable areas where epithelialization faces difficult issues. Axial pattern flaps are based on a feeding blood vessel that defines the amount of skin that can be moved. The above pictures shows a graft moved from the lateral chest wall to cover a large non healing wound over the front of the elbow.