Patients with acute skin loss: are they best managed on a burns unit?

Patients who are critically ill and have large areas of skin loss or breakd own present a difficult management problem. They require the combination of intensive therapy facilities to support failing organs and specialized ski n care, sometimes including extensive debridement and reconstruction. The e xpertise required for both aspects of treatment are found uniquely on a bur ns unit. We present five patients with large areas of cutaneous loss or dam age secondary to a variety of non-burn aetiologies who were managed on a bu rns unit. We suggest that a burns unit may be the most appropriate place fo r such patients to be treated during both the acute phase of their illness and the later stages of surgical reconstruction and physical rehabilitation .