# Skin grafts and flaps after skin cancer surgery

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/skin-graft-and-flap-reconstruction/  
OnCo record `skin-graft-and-flap-reconstruction` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Two ways of closing a hole in the skin that is too big to stitch. A graft is a thin sheet of skin taken from somewhere else and laid over the wound, which means a second wound where it came from. A flap is skin from right beside the wound, moved across while still attached to its own blood supply, which is why it usually matches better.

## Summary

Cancer Research UK describes the two and the difference that matters to the result. For a graft, a surgeon shaves or cuts a sheet of skin from a donor site, usually somewhere not too obvious such as the inner thigh, and stitches it over the defect; a shaved donor site heals on its own without stitches, a cut one is stitched. For a flap, the incision is deeper, the skin is left partly connected to its original site so that it keeps its blood supply, and it is rotated or advanced into the defect and stitched in place, with the donor area closed with stitches or staples or occasionally with a graft of its own. Only specially trained dermatologists or plastic surgeons do flaps, and more than one operation is sometimes needed. After either, the team watch the wound closely to check it is getting a good blood supply.

The third option is the one people are least often told about in advance. The BAD's Mohs leaflet lists healing on its own, over several weeks and up to two months under a dressing, as one of five ways of dealing with the wound, alongside stitches, a graft, a flap and referral to another surgical team. On the face, near the eyelid, nose, ear and lip, the reconstruction may be handed to an oculoplastic, maxillofacial or plastic surgeon, and asking which team will close the wound is a separate question from asking who will remove the cancer.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-25
- Also known as: skin graft; skin flap; local flap; split-thickness graft; full-thickness graft; donor site; healing by secondary intention; reconstruction after skin cancer

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_grafting
- Cancer Research UK: types of surgery for non-melanoma skin cancer: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/skin-cancer/treatment/surgery/treatment-surgery-types
- British Association of Dermatologists and British Society for Dermatological Surgery: Mohs micrographic surgery, patient information leaflet (updated June 2025): https://www.skinhealthinfo.org.uk/condition/mohs-micrographic-surgery/
- Cancer Research UK: problems after surgery for non-melanoma skin cancer: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/skin-cancer/treatment/surgery/problems-after-surgery

## Connected records

- terms: [Curettage and cautery](https://onco.cc/terms/curettage-and-cautery/), [Mohs surgery](https://onco.cc/terms/mohs-surgery/), [The scar on the face after skin cancer surgery](https://onco.cc/terms/facial-scar-after-skin-cancer/), [Wide local excision](https://onco.cc/terms/wide-local-excision/)
- cancers: [Basal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/basal-cell-carcinoma/), [Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/cutaneous-scc/), [Skin cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/skin-cancer/)
- fronts: [Surgery & Interventional](https://onco.cc/fronts/surgery/)

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