A bacterial barrier dressing for skin donor sites

Although most skin donor sites heal uneventfully, some surgically prepared open areas become contaminated and are converted to full-thickness wounds. Accordingly, a synthetic bacterial barrier dressing (Hydron Burn Bandage) applied as a spray or a preformed sheet was compared with fine mesh gauze application on skin donor sites in a series of 50 burned children. Six of 19 control wounds demonstrated some bacterial contaminants. Only 2 out of 22 donor sites covered within 5 h after preparation contained any detectable bacterial contaminants. The Hydron bandage applied to skin donor sites adhered well, was easily removed at about 12 days and produced a barrier to bacterial contamination during the healing period.