Hypertrophic scar management.

Scarring has major psychological and physical repercussions. Scars are often considered trivial, but they can be disfiguring and aesthetically unpleasant and may cause severe itching, tenderness, pain, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression and disruption of daily activities. It is more efficient to prevent hypertrophic scars than treat them; early diagnosis of a problem scar can considerably impact the overall outcome.

Cohort study evaluating management of burns in the community in clinical practice in the UK: costs and outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate health outcomes, resource use and corresponding costs attributable to managing burns in clinical practice, from initial presentation, among a cohort of adults in the UK.

Design: Retrospective cohort analysis of the records of a randomly selected cohort of 260 patients from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database who had 294 evaluable burns.

Setting: Primary and secondary care sectors in the UK.

Role of slough and biofilm in delaying healing in chronic wounds.

The management of biofilms with maintenance desloughing and antimicrobial therapy is fast becoming the accepted treatment strategy for chronic wounds.

Antiseptics for burns.

Background: Burn wounds cause high levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide. People with burns are particularly vulnerable to infections; over 75% of all burn deaths (after initial resuscitation) result from infection. Antiseptics are topical agents that act to prevent growth of micro-organisms.

Hand burn management: minimising pain and trauma at dressing change.

The aim of wound management in hand burn injuries is to restore function and prevent problem scars, so a key consideration in wound healing is the removal of dressings without causing pain and further trauma as well as preserving function. Conventionally, wound dressings such as paraffin gauze were used for burn injuries, but this led to pain and trauma on removal, as well as drying out. This study looks at the use of Mepitel® One on hand burns; this dressing incorporates all the benefits of Mepitel, however, it only has Safetac technology on the wound contact side, allowing easy handling and application.

Do illness perceptions and mood predict healing time for burn wounds? a prospective, preliminary study.

Unlabelled: Some burn wounds take longer to heal than others, but this cannot be fully explained by physical factors such as burn size and depth. Research interest has therefore focussed on the potential contribution of psychological factors, such as perception of the burn and distress, to the wound healing process.

Objectives: Using the framework of Leventhal's Common-Sense Model, we investigated whether patients' perceptions of their burn wounds and distress contributed to healing time, and whether this was via the mediating role of adherence to treatment recommendations.

Hydrogels and their potential uses in burn wound management.

Hydrogels are recognized as the standard treatment for necrotic or sloughy wounds. Autolytic debridement of devitalized tissue is essential to promote wound healing; this depends on the whole area being kept moist so that natural enzymatic reactions can take place. Hydrogels are considered to be gentle debriders, promoting rehydration of non-viable tissues.

The use of Silflex in burn wound management.

This article presents three case studies looking at the effective use of an atraumatic wound dressing: Silflex (Advancis Medical). Pain is known to be very debilitating in patients with burns and frequent dressing changes can pose a painful problem. The case studies, presented here, support the view that Silflex, a silicone-based conformable dressing, is a useful adjunct when treating superficial burns.

Management of skin grafts and donor sites.

Jacky Edwards discusses the management of skin grafts and donor sites, together with the management of these patients in the community and long-term outcomes.

Scar management.

Scarring has major psychological and physical repercussions--for example, scarring on the face and visible regions of the body can be very distressing for the patient, whether it is simple acne scars or large, raised surgical or traumatic scars. This article discusses the process of scar formation, the differences between scars and proposes a number of ways in which the nurse can manage scars.