A dressing history

Over the past 30 years as caregivers, clinicians have been exposed to a plethora of new advanced wound dressings. The moist wound care revolution began in the 1970s with the introduction of film and hydrocolloid dressings, and today these are the traditional types of dressings of the advanced dressing categories. Wound-healing science has progressed significantly over the same period, as a result of intense clinical and scientific research around these product introductions. Today, the clinician understands moist wound healing, occlusion, cost effectiveness, wound bed preparation and MMP activity to name but a few of the many concepts in wound care that have flourished as a result of technology and product advancement. This review article presents a condensed history of dressing development over the past 30 years. However, in addition, such advancement is discussed in respect to its adoption in different parts of the world. The largest single markets of the world are generally the United States of America and Europe; as such, the development of both practice and technology generally begins there. Much has been written about these markets in previous review articles. For the purposes of this review, the development of wound care and the maturing of practice is discussed in respect to Canada, Japan and Australia representing smaller geographical areas where the development has been more recent but nonetheless significant.