Effects of Wound Dressings on Skin Properties

The treatment of chronic wounds, burns and scars is not easy to solve, because the most suitable dressing for wound care depends not only on the type of wound but also on the stage of the healing process. Wound dressing have been employed to speed up the healing process in acute and chronic wounds by keeping healing tissues moist and increasing superficial wound epithelialization [1,2]. Apart of the chronic wounds and burns, the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars has also been a concern for dermatologist and plastic surgeons because of the lack of effective methods. Recently, it has been reported that topical silicone gel sheet treatment for such types of scars can be effective. However, the mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effect still remain unclear [3]. With chronic wounds and burns or scars, it has been sugested that the mechanism underlying the therapeutic effectiveness of the dressings is the hydrating effect on the skin. In the present paper, the occlusiveness of three different wound dressings were studied on intact volar forearm skin using OTTER (Opto-thermal Transient Emission Radiometry) technique and TEWL measurements using the AquaFlux device [4,5].