system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: why does the skin used on grafts for burns look different to normal skin and will technology be able to improve this?
gpt
Usually the skin used for skin grafts has been meshed---cut into a sort of honeycomb pattern using a machine. This allows a smaller skin graft to cover a large area of skin, and curve to fit the shape of the body. The problem is, that the lines of the mesh will show up in the healed skin.

There are two ways around this. One is not to do the meshing. The problem with this, is that more skin is needed for the graft, leading to more scaring and pain at the donor site. The other is to use a different type of graft: new technology is allowing skin to be "grown" in the lab, using the patient's skin cells. This takes more time, as the cells need to be taken to a lab and grown up, so it's not helpful for emergency surgeries, but is used in other cases.