title: Management of partial thickness facial burns (comparison of topical antibiotics and bio-engineered skin substitutes).
abstract: This study compared the effect of standard topical antibiotic management versus a biological skin substitute wound closure for mid-partial thickness burns of the face. Adult patients with mid-dermal facial burns produced by flash flames or flame exposure were studied using a randomized prospective study design. Total daily burn care time, pain (0-10 scale) and healing time were monitored. Immediately after partial thickness debridement, the entire face burn, including ears, was closed with a bioengineered skin substitute coated with fibronectin (TransCyte) or treated by the open technique using bacitracin ointment applied 2-3 times daily. 21 patients were studied, with 10 patients in the skin substitute group. We found a significant decrease in wound care time 0.35 +/- 0.1 versus 1.9 +/- 0.5 h, decrease in pain of 2 +/- 1 versus 4 +/- 2 and re-epithelialization time 7 +/- 2 versus 13 +/- 4 days in the skin substitute group compared to topical antibiotics. We can conclude that a bioengineered skin substitute significantly improves the management and healing rate of partial thickness facial burns, compared to the standard open topical ointment technique.
mesh_terms: D000287:Administration, Topical; D000328:Adult; D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001414:Bacitracin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002056:Burns / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D017768:Skin, Artificial; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing