Donating extra skin to burn centers

A nurse mentioned to me about burn centers doing tummy tucks for your extra skin to help burn patients. Do anyone know of this in Georgia or any where for that matter.

Shunya, That's an "Urban Myth." They really don't accept it. Best Wishes- Dx

This excerpt is what I found on an FDA website regarding burn victims and skin harvesting. This is straight from the mouth of the director of the skin bank at Boston Shriners Hospital. "Many people don't realize that skin is an organ, but in fact it's the body's largest organ. And like other organ donations, skin donations are critically needed," says Phil Walters, director of the skin bank at Boston Shriners Hospital. Walters says the two most frequently asked questions he fields about skin donation are: is skin taken from a living donor, and can tissue surgically removed from a patient by procedures such as those performed to reduce obesity be donated? "The answer to both questions is no," says Walters. "Skin is procured from a deceased organ donor, just like any other donated organ."

Well...kidneys are not always recieved from a dead donor...they probably just don't want a line of people out the door waiting to sluff some skin in exchange for PS..I can see it all now.... Sher'

My surgen told me when I had my excess skin removed that burn centers will except skin when needed. He said the skin must be a massive amount. It was something about covering large areas. My skin was just six pound and he said that wasn't enough. Cindy

Cindy, According to the Shriner's Burn Center Director and the Director of the University of Michigan Skin Center, that is the most common question they receive and the answer is, "No." Our tissue bank does not obtain skin from these patients for several reasons. First, this method of obtaining skin is cost prohibitive. The amount of transplantable tissue obtained from tissue reduction surgery is minimal when compared to the amount of tissue obtained from a cadaveric (deceased) tissue donor. The procurement costs would be much greater as it would require the services of doctors, nurses, anesthetists, and other health care professionals as well as the use of an operating room and other hospital services. Cadaveric donation requires only trained tissue recovery technicians, and they can procure tissue after the body has been sent to the morgue (rather than in an operating room), thus keeping expenses to a minimum. Additionally, cadaveric donated tissue can be used for transplant soon after recovery (as soon as quality assurance testing is complete), but the FDA requires that tissues recovered from living donors must be placed into quarantine for six months. At the end of six months, all serologic testing (HIV and Hepatitis) must be repeated before that tissue can be used. shrinershq.org/whatsnewarch/archives02/skin4-02.html transweb.org/reference/articles/donation/excess_skin_donation.html Sharon Reach for the Stars Read my story SharonNeva.com

Hey, Thanks for the info. I was just going by what my doctor had said and young man who had surgery when I did. Cindy

Hi Shunya, As Dx mentioned, excess skin from WLS patients cannot be donated or transplanted. Here is a web site with some extremely helpful information, including an explanation of the actual procedure: (www).health.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=61779&site=734&return=18687 Good luck in your search! ~d

Unfortunately they can't use our skin because it is already stretched out.

I forgot to add that a young fellow who had his surgery the same week as mine had already had arranged with the burn center in southern California to have his excess skin removed half way through his process. They were going to pay for that proceedure. A great kid. His weight was at about 600 pounds so the surgery was set for removale when he got to be 300 pounds. As far as I know it went as planned. Cindy