Wound Management

These days there is much more to wound management than plasters and gauze dressings. Here’s a guide to the different types of wound dressings available and their uses:

• Traditional adhesive plasters - good for minor cuts and grazes.
• Silver impregnated plasters – silver has a natural anti-bacterial effect and may be useful for preventing infection.
• Spray plasters – useful for superficial wounds in places where applying a plaster is awkward.
• Anti-scaring plasters – keep the wound moist to help prevent scars.
• Hydrocolloid dressings and plasters – provide a moist environment for wound healing. Good for exuding wounds like blisters, pressure sores, leg ulcers, and minor burns.
• Impregnated gauze dressing – a gauze dressing impregnated with chlorhexidine can be useful for treating minor burns.
• Vapour permeable film dressing – this transparent film dressing keeps out water and has an antibacterial barrier to reduce infection. Useful for more serious cuts and burns as you can see how the wound is healing without removing it.
• Adhesive tapes – useful for securing gauze dressings.
• Felt padded dressings – protect against friction and pressure. Useful for corms and calluses.
• Diabetic boot – used to treat foot ulcers in people with diabetes, it offers a moist healing environment and allows wound exudates to drain into the absorbent material in the boot.