Primary pressure grafts in early reconstruction of deep facial burns.

The face is an area of great cosmetic importance where the repair of deep burns is particularly delicate, as both appearance and function must be taken into account. In order to improve the aesthetic prognosis of full skin thickness facial burns, a primary pressure graft technique was used in eight patients. Early excision was carried out during postburn day 3 and after good-quality granulation tissue was obtained around day 10, a full skin thickness graft was applied. Pressure was applied to the graft and maintained for 10 days. The grafts took successfully in all patients with very satisfactory cosmetic results. This is an original technique as it replaces burned tissue at a very early stage with tissue which is normal in thickness and quality.