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Updated: May 7, 2026
A Murine Model of a Burn Wound Reconstructed with an Allogeneic Skin Graft
Published on: August 8, 2020
Do functional keratin dressings accelerate epithelialization in human partial thickness wounds? A randomized
Andrew Davidson1, N Hamesh Jina, Clive Marsh
1Departments of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Objective:
To determine if the experimental (keratin-based) dressing accelerates epithelialization rates during healing of partial-thickness wounds, relative to a Standard Care dressing.
Method:
A randomized control trial was conducted using a Standard Care dressing side by side with the experimental dressing on a sample (n=26) of partial-thickness donor site wounds. The proximal/distal placement of the control and treatment was randomized. Percentage epithelialization after approximately 7 days was estimated from which time to fully epithelialize can be inferred. Patients were grouped into "young" (≤50 y/o) and "old" (>50 y/o).
Results:
For the "old" patients (n=15), the median epithelialization percentage at 7 days is 5% and was significantly (P=.023) greater for the experimental dressing. For the "young" patients (n=11), the median epithelialization percentage at 7 days was 80% and there is no significant difference between the experimental and Standard Care control dressings.
Conclusions:
The experimental dressing significantly increases the rate of epithelialization of acute, traumatic partial-thickness wounds in older patients. We suggest that the dressing may be clinically useful in similar situations where epithelialization may be delayed because of patient or wound characteristics.
