Wound coverage: is there a difference?

Many different wound-covering materials, making various claims regarding wound healing effectiveness, are currently available. However, no controlled, comparison trials have been performed to document these claims. This prospective, randomized study was undertaken to compare wound healing among several synthetic burn dressings. Micrografts were placed on 20 New Zealand white rabbits, then randomly covered with four commonly used synthetic burn dressings, to evaluate the impact on wound healing. No statistically significant difference in wound healing was observed among the dressings. With equal wound healing, the choice of wound coverage should be based on other factors such as availability, cost, and handling properties of the dressing.