BMJ  2006;332:777-780 (1 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7544.777

Practice

ABC of wound healing

Wound dressings

Vanessa Jones1, Joseph E Grey, Keith G Harding

1 Vanessa Jones is senior lecturer at the Wound Healing Research Unit, Cardiff University.

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Traditionally wet-to-dry gauze has been used to dress wounds. Dressings that create and maintain a moist environment, however, are now considered to provide the optimal conditions for wound healing. Moisture under occlusive dressings not only increases the rate of epithelialisation but also promotes healing through moisture itself and the presence initially of a low oxygen tension (promoting the inflammatory phase). Gauze does not exhibit these properties; it may be disruptive to the healing wound as it dries and cause tissue damage when it is removed. It is not now widely used in the United Kingdom.


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
 Left: Healthy venous leg ulcer suitable for dressing with low adherent dressing. Right: Wound suitable for dressing with semipermeable film

 

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  		Characteristics of the ideal dressing

 

Occlusive dressings are thought to increase cell proliferation and activity by retaining an optimum level of wound exudate, which contains vital proteins and cytokines produced in response to injury. These . . . [Full text of this article]


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