A prospective comparison of a new, synthetic donor site dressing versus an impregnated gauze dressing

Three institutions enrolled 38 patients who required bilateral skin graft donor sites into a safety and efficacy study of a new synthetic donor site dressing. Bilateral donor sites were randomized to receive either a new, synthetic donor site dressing or an impregnated gauze dressing. Wounds were assessed by time to healing, pain, and patient preference. Synthetic dressing wounds were treated 7.9 days compared with 10.2 days for gauze dressing wounds (p < 0.001), and synthetic dressing wounds were more completely epithelialized. Visual analogue pain analysis revealed significantly less donor site pain with synthetic dressing (2.94) versus gauze dressing (4.64) (p < 0.001). Synthetic dressing had fewer treatment-related adverse experiences than gauze dressing (2 vs 7) and was judged by recipients to be superior to gauze dressing in comfort, pain relief, cosmetic appeal, ease of ambulation, and overall acceptance.