Healing at skin graft donor sites dressed with chitosan
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Authors
Stone, C. A.
Wright, H.
Clarke, T.
Powell, R.
Devaraj, V. S.
Journal
British journal of plastic surgery
Type
Clinical Trial
Publisher
Elsevier
Rights
Copyright 2000 The British Association of Plastic Surgeons.
Chitosan is a derivative of chitin, extracted from the exoskeleton of lobsters, crabs and shrimps. As a semi-permeable biological dressing, it maintains a sterile wound exudate beneath a dry scab, preventing dehydration and contamination of the wound to optimise conditions for healing. In this study, evaluation of healing at split skin graft donor sites, dressed half with chitosan and half with a conventional dressing, showed that chitosan facilitated rapid wound re-epithelialisation and the regeneration of nerves within a vascular dermis. In addition, digital colour separation analysis of donor site scars demonstrated an earlier return to normal skin colour at chitosan-treated areas.
Citation
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