Skin grafting for venous leg ulcers.

Venous leg ulceration is a common and disabling condition which often recurs. It affects up to one in 100 adults at some time. The usual treatments are simple dressings and compression bandages or stockings. Unfortunately, in some cases this treatment is unsuccessful, with ulcers remaining open for months or years. Sometimes skin grafts are used to stimulate healing. These skin grafts may be taken from the patient's own uninjured skin, may be grown from the patient's skin cells into a dressing (autografts), or applied as a sheet of bioengineered skin grown from donor cells (allograft). Preserved skin from other animals, such as pigs, has also been used; these grafts are known as xerografts.