2025 CPT code 15240
(Active) Effective Date: N/A Surgery - Surgical Procedures on the Integumentary System Feed
Full-thickness skin graft, free, including direct closure of donor site, to areas like the forehead, cheeks, chin, mouth, neck, axillae, genitalia, hands, and/or feet; 20 sq cm or less.
Modifiers may be applicable.Modifier 22 may be used for increased procedural services. Modifier 59 is used to indicate a distinct procedural service. Modifier 51 can be appended for multiple procedures.
Medical necessity for this procedure must be documented. This might include the etiology of the wound, failed conservative treatments, and the need for a full-thickness graft rather than a split-thickness graft. The chosen donor site and its method of closure should be justified.
The physician performs the surgical procedure, including harvesting the full-thickness skin graft, preparing the recipient site, transferring and securing the graft, and closing both the donor and recipient sites.
In simple words: A full-thickness skin graft involves transferring skin from one area of your body to another. This procedure is used to cover small wounds (20 sq cm or less) on areas like your face, neck, armpits, genitals, hands, or feet.The surgeon will close the area where the skin was taken from.
This code describes a procedure where a full-thickness skin graft (including both the epidermis and dermis) is taken from a donor site and transplanted to a recipient site on the forehead, cheeks, chin, mouth, neck, axillae, genitalia, hands, and/or feet. The donor site is then closed directly. The graft size is 20 sq cm or less.For each additional 20 sq cm or part thereof, see 15241; list separately in addition to 15240 for the primary procedure. (For fingertip graft, use 15050) (For repair of syndactyly, fingers, see 26560-26562)
Example 1: A patient presents with a 15 sq cm wound on the cheek due to a dog bite. The physician performs a full-thickness skin graft to repair the wound, closing the donor site directly., A patient has a 10 sq cm burn wound on the hand. The physician performs a full-thickness skin graft to cover the wound and closes the donor site., A patient undergoes excision of a small lesion on the forehead, resulting in a 18 sq cm defect.A full-thickness skin graft is performed to close the defect, and the donor site is closed directly.
Documentation should include the size and location of the recipient site, the location of the donor site, the method of wound closure for both donor and recipient sites, and any complications encountered.
- Specialties:Plastic Surgery, Dermatology, General Surgery,Hand Surgery
- Place of Service:"Office", "Ambulatory Surgical Center", "Outpatient Hospital", "Inpatient Hospital"