THE EFFECT OF OCCLUSIVE AND SEMI-OCCLUSIVE DRESSINGS ON THE HEALING OF ACUTE FULL-THICKNESS SKIN WOUNDS ON THE FORELIMBS OF DOGS

This project compared the effects of hydrocolloid (HC) and hydrogel (H G) occlusive dressings and a polyethylene (PE) semi-occlusive dressing on the healing of acute full-thickness skin wounds on the forelimbs o f 10 dogs. All treatments resulted in a similar degree of healing at p ostoperative days 4 and 7. No significant differences existed in the n umber of wounds that were more than 90% healed at postoperative day 28 between the group treated with the HG dressing and the group treated with the PE dressing. There were significantly fewer wounds more than 90% healed at postoperative day 28 in the group treated with the HC dr essing. Wounds under the HG dressing had the largest mean percentage o f contraction at postoperative days 21 and 28. Wounds under the HG dre ssing also had the largest contraction/re-epithelialization ratio (pos toperative days 21 and 28) compared with wounds under the PE and HC dr essings. Wounds under the PE dressing had a significantly higher mean percentage of re-epithelialization than wounds under both occlusive dr essings on postoperative days 14, 21, and 28. Wounds under the two occ lusive dressings had exuberant granulation tissue present more often t han wounds under the PE dressing. The two occlusive dressings had sign ificantly higher bacterial counts on wounds compared with wounds under the PE dressing; analysis of variance (ANOVA), P = .0008. Wounds unde r the HC dressing showed the poorest healing in all parameters. (C) Co pyright 1994 by The American College of Veterinary Surgeons