gelling and dissolvable hydrogels for use as on-demand wound dressings for burns.

Currently, no dressings utilized in burn clinics provide adhesion, hydration or mechanical strength on the same order as human skin as well as the ability to be atraumatically removed. We report the synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of polymerized and subsequent dissolvable hydrogels as burn wound dressings. Hydrogel dressings, from a small library of synthesized materials form , exhibit storage moduli between 100-40 000 Pa, dissolve on-demand within 10 minutes to 90 minutes, swell up to 350%, and adhere to both burned and healthy human skin at 0.2-0.3 N cm. Further, results from an porcine second degree burn model demonstrate functional performance with healing equivalent to conventional treatments with the added benefit of facile, application and subsequent removal dissolution.