Dressing (medical)

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Surgical dressings are generally applied to a wound to stem bleeding, absorb exudate, ease pain, debride (remove slough), provide protection from infection and mechanical damage, and promote healing (such as granulation and epithelialisation). Although bandages are also classified as dressings (in, for example, the British Pharmacopoeia) they usually have a different function to the above.

Historically, a dressing was usually a piece of material, sometimes cloth, but the use of cobwebs, dung, leaves and honey have also been described. However, modern dressings ^[1] include gauzes (sometimes impregnated with paraffin), films, gels, foams, hydrocolloids, alginates, hydrogels and polysaccharide pastes, granules and beads.

Applying a dressing properly is a first aid skill. Ideally a dressing comes in a prepackaged sterile wrapping. However, dressings can be and often are improvised as needed. Dressings can be impregnated with antiseptic chemicals, as in boracic lint.

Changing dressings is one common task in nursing. Sterile dressings are typically found in first aid kits. An "ideal" wound dressing is one that is sterile, breathable, and encourages a moist healing environment. This will then reduce the risk of infection, help the wound heal more quickly, and reduce scarring.

Medicinal Castor oil was used in the first surgical dressings ^[2].

[edit] Functions of Wound Dressings

In the 1960's, George Winter published his controversial research on moist healing. Previously, the accepted wisdom was that in order to prevent infection of a wound, the wound should be kept as dry as possible. Winter demonstrated that wounds which were kept moist healed faster than those which were left exposed to the air or covered with traditional dressings.

Ideally, dressings should: