Pretibial lacerations are problematic and best managed by surgical debridement, then skin grafting. Traditional postoperative care\r\ninvolves bed rest to optimise graft survival. This meta-analysis assesses early mobilisation versus bed rest for skin graft healing\r\nof these wounds. Medline, Embase, Cochrane, Cinahl, and Google Scholar databases were searched. Analyses were performed on\r\nappropriate clinical trials. Four trials met with the inclusion criteria. No difference was demonstrated in split skin graft healing\r\nbetween patients mobilised early compared to patients admitted to hospital for postoperative bed rest at either 7 (OR 0.86 CI\r\n0.29ââ?¬â??2.56) or 14 days (OR 0.74 CI 0.31ââ?¬â??1.79). There was a statistically significant delay in healing in patients treated with systemic\r\ncorticosteroids (OR 8.20 CI 0.99ââ?¬â??15.41). There was no difference in postoperative haematoma, bleeding, graft infection, or donor\r\nsite healing between the comparison groups. In the available literature, there is no difference between early mobilisation and\r\nbed rest for the healing of skin grafts to pretibial wounds. Corticosteroids exert a negative effect on skin graft healing unlike\r\nearly mobilisation, which does not cause increased haematoma, bleeding, infection, or delayed donor site healing. Modality of\r\nanaesthesia does not affect skin graft healing.
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