CUTIS GRAFTS

Abstract

THE USE of cutis and full thickness skin in the repair of fascial defects has become increasingly popular. Its increase in popularity can be attributed to the progress in knowledge of the fate of buried epidermal structures and to the excellence of results obtained in the cases which have been reported. Cutis has been defined by Harkins¹as the deeper layers of skin which have been stripped of their epidermal covering. It is a tough fibrous tissue which usually has some epidermal structures remaining. Figure 1 is an illustration of the removal of the epidermis (<i>A</i>) about 10/1000 inch deep, leaving the cutis (<i>B</i>) about 30/1000 inch. Loewe²in 1913 and Rehn³in 1914, working independently, first advocated the use of cutis material in the repair of connective tissue defects. The subject received little interest in this country until 1939, when Uihlein⁴reported a review of