Types of Dressing
Historically, a dressing was usually a piece of material, sometimes cloth, but the use of cobwebs, dung, leaves and honey have also been described. However, modern dressings include gauze (which may be impregnated with an agent designed to help sterility or to speed healing), films, gels, foams, hydrocolloids, alginates, hydrogels and polysaccharide pastes, granules and beads. Many gauze dressings have a layer of nonstick film over the absorbent gauze to prevent the wound from adhering to the dressing. Dressings can be impregnated with antiseptic chemicals, as in boracic lint or where medicinal Castor oil was used in the first surgical dressings
In the 1960s, George Winter published his controversial research on moist healing. Previously, the accepted wisdom was that to prevent infection of a wound, the wound should be kept as dry as possible. Winter demonstrated that wounds kept moist healed faster than those exposed to the air or covered with traditional dressings.
Various types of dressings can be used to accomplish different objectives including:
- Controlling the moisture content, so that the wound stays moist or dry. An example of a moisture-retaining dressing is Aquacel, which is a "hydrofiber" that is indicated, for example, for partial-thickness burns.
- Protecting the wound from infection,
- Removing slough, and
- Maintaining the optimum pH and temperature to encourage healing.
Occlusive dressings, made from substances impervious to moisture such as plastic or latex, can be used to increase the rate of absorption of certain topical medications into the skin.
Read more about this topic: Dressing (medical)
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