Editing Penis and Urethra Surgery (section)

===== Split-thickness graft =====
* '''Carries the epidermis (or the covering) and variable amount of [superficial] dermis'''
** '''Reticular dermis is not carried with the split-thickness skin graft'''
** '''Exposes the superficial dermal (intradermal or intralaminar) plexus'''
* '''Advantage:'''
** '''Favorable vascular characteristics'''
* '''Disadvantage:'''
** '''Tends to contract and be brittle when mature'''
* '''A mesh graft is usually an application of the split-thickness graft.'''
** '''After the harvest of a sheet graft, the sheet is placed on a carrier that cuts systematically placed slits in the graft.''' These slits can expand the graft by various ratios'''.'''
*** For most genital reconstructive surgery, the slits are not for expansion but rather to allow subgraft collections to escape and allow the graft to conform better to irregular graft host beds (e.g., the testes in split-thickness skin graft scrotal construction).