**1. Introduction**

Since the XX century and due to Janzecovich's contributions, scarectomy and prompt coverage of major burnt patients have become one of the mainstays of the surgical treatment [1–3].

This coverage can be definitive, using autologous tissues, or temporary. The lack of availability of donor areas, infected or doubtful vitality beddings, or graft procurement associated with a morbimortality increase are conditions where temporary coverages are preferred. The latter is done using allografts, xenografts, and/or biosynthetic products, which mimic the skin functions and provide a physiological coverage that permits hydro electrolytic loss control, pain and infection risk reduction, and improvement of the local conditions of the bedding.

Skin allografts (SAs) are the gold standard therapeutic alternative among temporary coverages. Their natural evolution consists of its rejection between days 8 and 10, being retarded in major burnt patients, due to the immune system depression between days 15 and 30 [4–7].

In burnt patients, the use of SA began in 1881, when Girdner treated a patient with severe burns with cadaveric SA [8]. Subsequently, Brown et al. popularized SA as biologic grafts in extensive burns [9–10]. The growing need for SA for managing these patients was responsible for the creation of establishments capable of storing skin during the 50th decade. These centers are usually located inside or near hospitals or burnt centers to satisfy the burnt patient's needs and, on the other hand, promote skin donation with high-quality standards [11–14].

The SA necessity resulted in the emergence of facilities for skin storage during the 1950s. Most of them were located inside or near hospitals or burnt centers, permitting, on the one hand, satisfying the burnt patient's needs and, on the other hand, encouraging skin donation with high-security standards [8, 9].

SAs are usually obtained from cadaveric donors in the context of multiorgan donation. They are obtained with a dermatome as partial skin grafts, preserved with high concentrated glycerol, resulting in cellular death and not viable tissue [15].

The relative shortness of donors encouraged the search and use of other SA sources, as live donors submitted to surgeries resulting in skin redundancy and the need for its resection for reconstructive and/or esthetic motives [16–19].

This study aims to describe the clinical features of SAs, particularly cryopreserved total skin cutaneous allografts (CTSCAs) and a model of skin banks from live donors.
