Itching
Redness
Tenderness
Swelling
Bruising
Pain with eating
Sometimes, it is necessary to harvest a graft from elsewhere on the body. This may include a fat graft from your abdomen or inner thigh, a skin graft from an eyelid, neck or arm, a graft from inside your mouth, or a cartilage graft from behind your ear. For skin grafts and fat grafts, there may be a clear BANDAGE over the incision following surgery. This bandage (“Tegaderm”) tends to peel off on its own after about 1 week. If not, you may remove it at that time, then begin using over the counter dermatologic antibiotic ointment to the incision (e.g. Neosporin or Bacitracin). For any incision behind the ear, there will be no bandage and you may immediately begin using the antibiotic ointment to the incision. For mouth grafts, you will feel sore in the mouth; however the mouth tissue heals very quickly. Please swish and spit with dilute SALTWATER RINSE after each meal of the day. When you get a skin graft, you should avoid using cold compresses on the graft because it will interfere with blood supply to the graft. You may, however, use cold compresses on the DONOR site (where the graft was obtained from).