Wound Dressings – A Practical Review

Abstract

There are currently thousands of wound dressing products and materials available on the market. Despite the wide selection, there is no universally superior dressing, which prompts healthcare providers to choose materials that are most suitable to each particular case. This review provides an overview of various types of wound dressings, suggested uses, and recent advancements. Modern dressings have evolved to encompass an expansive array of semipermeable films and foams, hydrofibers, hydrogels, hydrocolloids, and alginates. Recent studies have investigated new technologies such as electrospun biopolymer nanofibers to create sprayable dressings while also exploring new roles for traditional materials such as honey and other non-synthetic derivatives. Wound presentations are diverse and require unique materials to best accommodate their respective healing processes. Future research is aimed at improving versatility and effectiveness of existing wound dressings while also investigating innovative therapeutic approaches to better manage challenging, non-healing wounds.