Moisture Retentive Wound Dressings

By the woundsource editors.

Moisture retentive wound dressings. Today s wound dressings can also help decrease or eliminate pain reduce the need for dressing changes and provide autolytic debridement. Antimicrobial impregnated dressings can be useful in wounds that are superficially infected or are at higher risk for infection. It is a problem that is seen throughout the health care system in all settings and every practitioner has the potential to have to deal with this issue. The basics of wound care healing principles and treatment options need to be reviewed by primary care practitioners.

Moisture retentive dressings also act as a barrier against bacteria and absorb excess wound fluid creating opportune conditions for healing. Identify the properties of ideal dressings 4. Recognize the need to thoroughly and holistically assess the whole person and their wound addressing the cause person centered concerns debridement and infection prior to selecting a dressing as wound dressings are a very small part of managing any wound learning objectives. They may contain other ingredients such as alginate to increase viscosity or allow for small amounts of absorption antimicrobial agents to address bioburden and collagen or growth factors to.

Duoderm cgf dressing is a hydrocolloid moisture retentive wound dressing used for partial and full thickness wounds with exudate. Studies have shown significant value in moist wound healing as opposed to treatment of wounds in a dry environment and clinical evidence has supported this view for many years. Moisture retentive dressings include films hydrogels hydrocolloids foams alginates and hydrofibers and are useful in a variety of clinical settings. One group of studies used 8 full thickness excisional wounds on each of 39 swine in 10 different studies involving a total of 22 dressings.

The effect of moisture retentive dressings on fullthickness wound healing has also been investigated. Ture is key to wound heal ing 1 3. In the last dec ade or so moisture retentive dress ings mrd which re tain wound exu date have gained in creas ing ac cep tance. It incorporates a unique convatec hydrocolloid formulation that distinguishes it from other hydrocolloid dressings.

Today s wound care dressings have moisture management properties to fulfill all of the functions of the passive dressings of earlier times but also promote faster healing reduce pain encourage vapor transmission promote autolytic debridement and also act as a bacterial barrier. The benefits of utilizing moisture based dressings are well documented. Moist wound healing has been shown to promote re epithelialization and can result in a reduction of scar formation because a moist environment keeps new skin cells alive and promotes cell. 4 the types of dressings that were evaluated included 3 different hydrocolloid dressings 11 trials dry gauze 4 trials 2 transparent adhesive.

Used appropriately they re cost effective.