An exemplary hand-held, power operated dermatome comprises a blade housing assembly, a skin deflector, an annular rotary knife blade, a cutting plane, and a depth gauge. Pulling the dermatome across a skin surface while maintaining an acute angle between 30 and 45 degrees between the cutting plane and a skin surface requires at least 30 percent less force than pushing a standard oscillating flat-plane dermatome across a skin surface.
