Funded by Dan’s Fund for Burns
http://www.adultburnsupportuk.org
info@adultburnsupportuk.org
ABSUK Forum
Welcome to the Adult Burn Support UK (ABSUK) forum
Our forum is free and provides a safe place for adult burn survivors to connect and support each other by discussing and sharing their personal experiences of burns related issues. It’s easy to use: simply browse the ‘recent topics’ listed in each category to see what’s being talked about. You can post, comment or reply by clicking an existing topic or if you can’t find what you’re looking for, start a new topic by clicking into a category, click add topic, name it and type your message. You need to be registered to use our forum so please register or login
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Topic starter
29/09/2025 10:29 pm
Hi Everyone,
New guy here. I hope you are all healing well. I just wondered if anyone can offer any insight on the healing of varying thickness neck skin grafts. Specifically, how long do you have to keep stretching them – is contracture a lifelong issue? I was burned in a mini explosion but the polyester fleece I was wearing caught fire and that is what caused my neck burns to require grafts. My face, ears and nose healed pretty well by themselves. The surgeons did fantastic work. I am at 11 months now since the incident and I still have to stretch the grafts several times a day. Strangely, I notice the contraction most when I am walking through a shop. It feels as if I have a big piece of cold stiff rubber glued to my neck pulling down and it can affect my speech. I don’t feel self-conscious or worried about what my neck looks like, I think it is my upright posture at these times and turning my head to look at things. The grafts start at my chin along my jawline to behind my ear and then down to my chest. It’s a little more than 50% of the front of my neck on the right side. There are a couple of cords that have formed. I have pretty good mobility and I have been in a good frame of mind since the accident because I realised how much worse it might have been if I hadn’t been able to dive into a pond to put the fire out. Consequently I have felt extremely lucky in the circumstances. The stretching and tightness is getting me down a bit now though, although I do think it may be easing up a little. Has anyone been through this before? Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. ☺️
30/09/2025 11:09 am
Hi Robbo,
Thanks for posting to our forum. I’m part of the team at Adult Burn Support UK and Dan’s Fund For Burns. I’m not medical so not able to give medical advice. From my experience of supporting burn survivors over the years, I’ve learned that everyone’s recovery from burns is individual to them and how they heal. From what you’ve said, your recovery seems to be going well. I believe the burns teams say it takes 18-24months for scars to fully mature and it’s important to moisturise and massage to keep them supple, and do any exercises/stretches you’ve been given by the physio team to mobilise the areas. Regarding contractures and the neck pulling you’ve mentioned, if you haven’t done so already, you should speak with your burns team who are best placed to advise you through their experience and expertise of working with burns.
If you’d like to speak with other burn survivors, we host a weekly online burn support live chat every Wednesday 7.30-9pm on this website – you can click the blue live chat button to find out more. You can join to ask questions, connect and share experiences of living with a burn injury. The online chat works like a whatsapp group – it’s a fully typed chat. You’ve already registered so you would just login and then click live chat and join live chat any Wednesday evening between 7.30pm & 9pm.
Wishing you all the best for your recovery.
Best,
Jennifer
Topic starter
30/09/2025 11:22 am
Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for your reply. I have was discharged from the Burns Clinic earlier this summer. The grafts are healing well and look pretty good. It is only fighting the constant contraction. That may just be how these things go. I will keep stretching! Thanks