has anybody heard of donating skin?

hello all...i have a friend who doesnt have access to a computer and she wanted me to ask this question. A friend (who's had wls) told her that she was able to have free plastic surgery...to what degree im not sure. she said that in basic speech she donated her skin to burn victims...and she was able to get rid of most of her loose skin. has anybody heard of this before?...if so any dr names?..im sorry if this question seems laughable..i am just tryin to help my friend get a answer.she is very uncomfortable with this and she no longer has any form of insurance. any help will be appreciated. thank you very much andy

andy, I've heard that's not possible. our skin has lost its elasticity and is really just not usable to other or ourselves. dj

I looked into this recently myself. According the national organ donor society (or whatever it's called, I'm not sure exactly) it is impossible to take skin from a living donor. In order for them to get what they need, the skin has to still be attached to the body and removed in a very specific way. I was dissapointed, because I was really hoping that a burn center would be able to use all the extra skin I'm expecting to be left with. Carol

Body contouring myth: You can have body contouring surgery performed free of charge if you donate the excess skin removed during the procedure to a skin bank. Fact: Because of numerous practical, medical and financial issues, organ sharing centers do not accept skin from living donors. They only take skin from deceased donors. [ www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3100/3181.asp?index=11057 ] "Our center 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), however, 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) of the donor must be repeated before that tissue can be used. It is extremely difficult to obtain a skin graft from tissue than has been removed during tissue reduction surgery. The usual procedure for tissue reduction surgery involves the removal of skin and underlying attached tissues, often several centimeters. Skin grafts used for transplant (burn patients) are only 15/1000 (0.015) of an inch thick and do not include these underlying tissues. Skin grafts for transplant are obtained by the use of a surgical device called a dermatome, which peels off a very thin (0.015 inch) uniform layer of skin." [ www.traumaburn.org/traumaburn/resources/faq.asp ] Another good article is found here: www.health.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=61779&site=734&return=18687 HTH, Toots

just never now where you'll turn up...

I do tend to get around

Thanks for sharing Dame T : ) That myth of skin donation is like a urban legend, its been out there for so long everyone has heard a version of it. Timmy Ray