When Rachel Moore goes to the bank, it's not money she's there to withdraw. It's skin.Since opening last November in Pretoria, Africa's first skin bank has provided its delicate commodity to five burn victims - the youngest only nine months old.Covering a burn victim in skin is the most effective way to save their life, says Moore, a burns surgeon at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.''The best option is to use their own skin. But you can't always do that because the patient is either too sick and they won't tolerate a skin graft because the burns are too big, or we can't get enough skin to cover it."Cadaver skin is the next best option. That's where "bank manager" Cleopatra Ndhlovu comes in.She heads the Tshwane University of Technology's centre for tissue engineering which harvests and stores human tissue and bones.But deposits have been scarce when it comes to skin. The bank relies on donors."Families are hesitant to donate skin. We don't have large stock because there is such a great demand for it.''Anyone can get donated skin. It doesn't have to be matched to gender, race or blood. It's just a layer that will eventually fall off," she said.Cadaver skin is not permanent. ''The skin is never meant to stay on forever. It's a temporary dressing and the best ever because it's as close to skin as it's going to get."Moore said burn victims often died because of their body's inability to heal.''It's not the burn that makes the person sick or kills them, its the body's reaction to it. With cadaver skin the body is fooled into thinking that it's got its own skin and so we can improve the person's condition so the person can get better," Moore said.''It's like a big plaster but it's the best plaster. Nothing manufactured even comes close."Until six months ago, Moore was harvesting skin herself- a laborious and impractical task. The skin bank was a life saver, she said.Her miracle patient is a seven-year-old boy who suffered 33% burns over his body from a gas explosion last year.His wounds would not heal and his condition deteriorated rapidly until Moore received skin from the bank."His turnaround was remarkable," she said. ''We were able to graft his own skin a few months later and now he's walking and running around."A few months ago, specialist burn surgeon Nikki Allorto, based in Pietermaritzburg, transplanted cadaver skin onto a severely burnt baby in KwaZulu-Natal.Allorto, founder of the Burn Care Trust, said Precious (not her real name) had suffered full-thickness burns to her face and hands.When the baby was taken into theatre a few months ago, all dead tissue was removed and cadaver skin was placed on her face.''All fingers on the right hand had to be amputated, along with the ends of the fingers on the left hand whilst preserving the thumb. After a week, the patient's own skin was used to close the wound," Allorto explained.Precious spent 38 days in hospital recovering from her injuries and had to undergo a programme of speech and occupational therapy.Allorto said the availability of donor skin would save the lives of patients with major burn injuries.''And by major we mean full-thickness and large total body surface area burns."According to Burn Care Trust, about 160 children are badly burnt every month in South Africa in household accidents, some fatally.In 2012, three-year-old Isabella Pippie Kruger became Africa's first recipient of artificially grown skin, after she was burnt over 80% of her body.A laboratory in Boston in the US grew Pippie's new skin from her own biopsy sample. Moore said this was a life-saving procedure - but also very expensive.''Skin cloning is not available in South Africa. It costs a huge amount and takes time to grow," she said."The South African public thinks this is the answer to saving the lives of burn victims, but it's not. We're a lower-middle-income country and we dream of one day saving people with 80% to 90% burns, but at the moment we are unable to do it. We don't have the resources." she said.To become a donor, sign up at www.tissuedonation.co.za.laganparsadm@sundaytimes.co.za..