26 Aug 2011
By: LYDIA VASKO
SKIN saved the life of local technician Low Chee Hwa, after a workplace fire in July last year left him with burns to 50 per cent of his body, badly damaging his arms, legs and torso. The 30-year-old was in a perilous situation as his body did not have enough healthy skin to graft onto his burns.
Healthy skin is the gold standard for burn treatment. Its use has reduced the mortality rate from burns from 45 per cent to 16 per cent and reduced hospital stays by about 10 days. Donated skin is not a permanent transplant but acts as a temporary biological bandage to reduce dehydration and prevent infection, while helping relieve pain and discomfort and assisting the wounds to heal.
Singapore General Hospital’s (SGH) burns centre has treated 174 patients with donated skin since 1998, using over 720,000 sq cm of donated skin. Yet local skin donations are at critically low levels, with only 71 local donors since 1998. And local skin donations account for only 20 per cent of total skin used here to date.
The SGH Skin Bank is largely dependent on international sources, such as the Euro Skin Bank in the Netherlands. But these sources are not always available as patients of donor countries have priority.
SGH Skin Bank’s principal scientific officer Alvin Chua said: “Demand for donated skin to treat burns is far higher than local supply.”
Skin is not part of Hota and interested donors must opt in to MTERA or have their skin donated by their next-of-kin upon death. Skin is typically taken from the donor’s back, buttocks and lower limbs within 15 hours of death. Only the thin outer layer of skin is taken, varying in thickness from .025 cm to .046cm. About 2,000 sq cm of skin can be harvested from a single adult. While this may sound a lot, in the months after his accident, Mr Low underwent 22 operations, including 11 to graft donor skin onto his wounds. All 22,000 sq cm of donated skin used on him came from overseas.
Mr Low now has a muddled patchwork of pink and brown skin. He wears pressure garments to reduce excess scarring and his skin sometimes itches. “I try to be happy,” he said. “What else can I do?”
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