Background: Loss of skin has a direct bearing on the various facets of health of the individual, hence, restoration of the skin ‘loss’ becomes an objective of paramount importance, which can be accomplished by various means, However, split skin grafting is the most commonly employed procedure because of its ease, better ‘take’ even in adverse conditions, ability to cover large areas and the possibility of reharvesting from donor site. Tourniquet is used following exsanguination to produce a relatively bloodless operative field.

Aims and Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of splitthickness skin grafting under tourniquet as compared with splitthickness skin grafting without tourniquet.

Materials and Methods: The cases for the study were taken from 100 subjects admitted to K.R. Hospital attached to Mysore medical college and research institute, Mysore during the study period from June 2016 to May 2017. All splitskin grafting of the extremities (arms and legs) were included in study, whereas Graft sites of less than 2cm in greatest diameter, subjects who may require a combination of grafts (splitthickness and full thickness grafts), Children below the age of 12 years, Graft sites where pneumatic tourniquet will be difficult, subjects with Deep Venous Thrombosis and Peripheral Vascular Disease were excluded from study.

Results: Of the 50 subjects who were randomized in the Tourniquet group, 2 (4%) subjects had to undergo regrafting due to displacement of the graft, but on the overall outcome the tourniquet group held the advantage over Non Tourniquet group in terms of Lower intra operative loss of blood (p 0.034) and lower incidence of seroma formation (p 0.026). While the Non tourniquet method had a lesser operating time (p 0.04) as compared to tourniquet.

Conclusion: Split thickness Skin grafting done under the application of tourniquet held advantage over grafting without the application of tourniquet in terms of lesser intraoperative blood loss, lesser incidence of seroma formation under the graft.