Replacement of devastated or severely damaged skin presents a key problem in the treatment of extensive deep burns in humans. The skin is an organ serving many functions, which can be replaced with skin transplants or temporary skin replacements only up to a certain extent. At the Burn and Reconstructive Surgery Department of the Faculty Hospital in Bratislava, located in Ružinov, we have been concerned with the problem of skin replacement since its establishment in 1987. In this article we review skin replacement options and our experience with indications and use of various types of skin substitutes, mainly of biological origin, such as allotransplants, xenotransplants and amnion.

        Key words: skin replacement, burns, allografts, xenografts, amnion, cultured keratinocytes