Current Science

Anup Rajeev Mannali ¹, Satish Kumar ¹, C. Balasubramanian ¹

Affiliations
1 Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chennai 603 203, IN

Abstract

Second-degree superficial burns are prevalent, with scalds in extremities being the most frequent cause. They are treated initially with dressings such as wet collagen and nanocrystalline silver, and they mostly heal by conservative means, rarely requiring skin grafts. Here we aim to compare the efficacy of nanocrystalline silver and collagen dressings for second-degree superficial burns and to establish a standard protocol for managing such burns. It indicates that nanocrystalline silver dressings are more effective than collagen dressings in promoting faster epithelialization of second-degree burns and are associated with lower pain levels during treatment. However, there is no significant difference between the two groups regarding the need for split skin thickness grafts.

Keywords

Collagen, epithelialization, nanocrystalline silver, scalds, superficial burns.

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