Wounds management: Moderate to highly exuding wounds

There are a myriad of dressings available to manage chronic wounds and, as a result, it can be quite daunting for the clinician to make a decision as to the ‘best’ dressing for a given wound at a given time. Understanding the basic principles of wound management and coupling that with knowledge of the dressing characteristics can help to make the decision-making process easier.

Indication:

AQUACEL Ag dressing is indicated as a primary dressing for moderate to highly exuding wounds where there is an infection or an increased risk of infection.

•        Chronic wounds: leg ulcers, pressure sores, diabetic ulcers and fungating lesions.

•        Acute wounds: post-surgical wounds, abrasions, lacerations and partial-thickness burns.

AQUACEL Ag Hydrofiber dressing is Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose with 1.2% ionic silver. It offers the unique gelling properties of Hydrofiber technology with the power of ionic silver. The dressing fibres of AQUACEL Ag gel on contact with wound fluid by hydrophilic action. The fibres swell as they lock bacterial exudate away from the wound by vertical wicking, creating a large fluid absorption capacity.

AQUACEL Ag dressings kill a broad spectrum of wound pathogens in the dressing that can cause infection including MRSA, VRE and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and aids in reducing the wound bioburden. Bacteria and other harmful wound exudate components are locked within the gelled AQUACEL Ag dressing fibres, where the ionic silver contained within the dressing kills them. Stitch bonding has been added to strengthen the original AQUACEL Ag Ribbon Dressing making it over 20 times stronger and resulting in more than 1.3 times less shrinkage.

Application:

Carefully cleanse the wound with saline, and dry the surrounding skin before placing AQUACEL dressing directly onto the wound allowing an overlap onto the surrounding skin of at least 1cm.

For cavity wounds, loosely pack AQUACEL dressing ribbon to about 80% capacity leaving at least 2.5cm outside the wound for easy retrieval.

The AQUACEL dressing should then be covered with an appropriate moisture retentive secondary dressing such as, but not limited to, DuoDERM Extra Thin dressing, or DuoDERM Signal dressing.

Proven Clinical Evidences based Benefits:

•        Supports moist wound-healing environment

•        Promotes faster wound-healing

•        Highly absorbent, giving longer wear time than alginate or gauze

•        Retains fluid within its structure, reducing the risk of maceration and excoriation

•        Soft and conformable, adding to patient comfort

•        Cohesive gel allows easy, a-traumatic removal

•        Costs less overall than gauze and an alginate by saving time, money and resources