A new surgical method for use on both burn wounds and donor sites of elderly patients with burns is presented. This procedure is based on dermolipectomy. During the period from January 1985 to December 1988, 20 operations were performed on 18 patients. This procedure was applied to 39 donor sites and to four burn wound sites. The most common donor site was the lateral trunk. There was only one postoperative death. Actual survival rates and predicted survival rates were compared, and in those patients with burns over 21% to 40% of total body surface area actual survival rates were better than the predicted rates.