Postoperative Dressing Regimens in Nail Surgeries: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Podiatric surgery
• Wound healing
• Dermatological procedures

Background:

• Toenail surgeries are common lower limb procedures with frequent complications like delayed healing and infection.
• Various dressings aim to mitigate these postoperative issues, but their effectiveness remains unproven.
• A lack of consensus and limited research exists regarding optimal dressing regimens for toenail surgery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review current literature on postoperative dressing efficacy in toenail surgeries.
• To identify the most effective dressing regimens for improving healing and reducing complications.
• To inform clinical practice and guide future research in this area.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature searches in major databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, SCOPUS) up to June 2025.
• Inclusion of quantitative studies assessing postoperative outcomes attributed to any dressing regimen in toenail surgery.
• Independent review, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment using JBI critical appraisal tools.

Main Results:

• Fourteen studies with 27 dressing regimens and 15 outcome measures were analyzed.
• Outcome measures included pain, healing rate, infection, and patient satisfaction.
• No dressing demonstrated superiority across any outcome measure due to a lack of high-quality evidence.

Conclusions:

• Variability in outcome measures and limited high-quality studies prevent definitive conclusions on dressing efficacy.
• Primary dressings showed a greater potential impact on outcomes than secondary dressings.
• Further rigorous research is essential to establish evidence-based postoperative dressing protocols for toenail surgery.