A strip of AlloDerm can be a sling under a weak bladder. Or fill a hole left by a tumor. Or fatten lips. Or thicken a penis. The reason is simple.
Companies charge plastic surgeons more for skin products than they do burn centers.
And, in the past decade, the number of cosmetic surgery procedures soared more than 150 percent. Plastic surgeons pay up to four times as much for a slightly thicker slice. Although New Jersey's Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation didn't have skin for Dana Christmas, Collagenesis co-founder Dale DeVore said his company has no trouble getting skin from the foundation or filling orders. Similarly, when the Grossman Burn Center called LifeCell looking for skin to help Lopez, the company told them it didn't have any skin. It had all been made into AlloDerm.