# What do they do if you don't have enough skin?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-do-if-you-dont-have-enough-skin/835834>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 21, 2019, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-do-if-you-dont-have-enough-skin/835834 "2019-06-21T08:09:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-do-if-you-dont-have-enough-skin/835834/1 "2019-06-21T08:09:43Z")

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> **[When they do skin grafts, what if they don’t have enough skin?](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1785/when-they-do-skin-grafts-what-if-they-dont-have-enough-skin/)**
>
> A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD

No breakthroughs since year 2000, but its worth mentioning skin mesh – the skin is cut like a chain link fence, so that it can be spread out over a larger area – and skin mince – the skin is minced up, then spread ‘like peanut butter’ over the wound so that it can be spread thinner and farther.

AFAIK, laboratory-grown skin (from your own skin cells) is still too fragile to be used for anything other than temporary grafts.

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**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-do-if-you-dont-have-enough-skin/835834/2 "2019-06-21T13:34:00Z")

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They covered most of this kid’s body I think and replaced it with skin using gene editing tools to replace the skin that had a faulty protein from a rare genetic disease.

[https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/boy-rare-disease-gets-new-skin-thanks-gene-corrected-stem-cells](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/boy-rare-disease-gets-new-skin-thanks-gene-corrected-stem-cells)

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-do-if-you-dont-have-enough-skin/835834/3 "2019-06-23T02:40:49Z")

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“covering 80% of the boy’s body in strong and elastic epidermis, the researchers report online today in Nature. What’s more, he’s de”

The bit anbout “strong and elastic” was the bit I wasn’t expecting. That article also notes the importance of getting the right cells to start with, which seems to be an ongoing area of research.

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**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-they-do-if-you-dont-have-enough-skin/835834/4 "2019-06-23T23:52:06Z")

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> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> “covering 80% of the boy’s body in strong and elastic epidermis, the researchers report online today in Nature. What’s more, _he’s developed no blisters in the grafted areas in the 2 years since the surgery_.” **[Italics mine - language added from linked article]**
> 
> The bit anbout “strong and elastic” was the bit I wasn’t expecting. That article also notes the importance of getting the right cells to start with, which seems to be an ongoing area of research.

Without the correction, the quote is pretty ambiguous, even alarming.