Plastic - not cosmetic - surgery question

[DickyC]

Background - About a month ago I had two basal cell carcinomas removed; one from my scalp and one from my nose. The surgeon did an amazing job. The one on my scalp was straightforward, cut out and stitched up. The one on my nose was more complicated. A tapered zigzag incision was made from near the tip of my nose to near my right eye. A flap made as part of the cutting was stretched over the now missing area and about two dozen small sutures joined me up.

Occasionally it gets itchy. My question is, why is the sensation where the itch is, and not where the skin was before it was stretched? If a patch from my neck or wherever was used as a skin graft I can see the body establishing new nerve connections in the graft's new position. But how does the body migrate the senses if it is all still connected?

Off Topic - I'm 67. Never a fan of sunbathing and mostly employed indoors, I rarely used sunblock. Over the last three or four years I have had fourteen areas of sun damage treated on my face and neck; burned of with liquified gas, cut off, cut out and now plastic surgery. The plastic surgeon scoffed when I said I now use sun block. "This damage was done fifty years ago." Luckily for me, none of them have been malignant. Get that sunblock on.