Silicone Foam Dressing, the Advanced Wound Care Solution

We all are no stranger to gauze, bandage, cotton and swab, among other traditional wound care solutions. If you are wondering if there are advanced wound care solutions as well, the answer is affirmative. Same as its traditional counterpart, advanced wound care solutions serve as another wound healing process, with the advanced wound dressings previously prescribed by clinicians, to secure shortened heal time, optimized drainage and lower risk of infection. Yet, thanks to the advance in the wound care industry, advanced wound dressing has been gaining popularity among medical workers and non-medical consumers in recent decades. But for those interested in them, the real question is not “where” (since they can now be purchased both online and offline), but “why”? Why should we choose them over the traditional ones that we are so familiar with?

So, to share more knowledge about advanced wound care solutions, this article focuses on one of the core products: the silicone foam dressing, along with its feature, application range and benefits.

What is Silicone Foam Dressing

1. Material

The silicone foam dressing comprises a polyurethane absorbent foam pad and a polyurethane membrane, with a layer of absorbent polyurethane foam in the center.

Such design is excellent for absorbing large amounts of exudates, retaining them within the dressing, and preventing it from re-entering the wound. In this way, the silicone foam dressing not only provides protection in the form of padding but also requires no additional overlying dressing due to its occlusive nature.

2. Applicatable wounds

Silicone foam dressing is used on a wide range of low to highly exuding wounds, including pressure ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers, traumatic wounds (e.g., skin tears), partial thickness burns and for skin graft fixation. ^[1]

Silicone foam dressing is also applicable for second-degree burns, donor sites, postoperative wounds and skin abrasions.

3. Benefits

Compared with traditional wound care solutions, the silicone foam dressing has its unique merits, such as shortened heal time, heightened comfortability and better healing effect under certain circumstances for a certain types of wounds. We will discuss the details in the following section.

Why is Silicone Foam Dressing Better

There are mainly 5 strengths of silicone foam dressing. Take the silicone foam dressing with border for example. This bordered foam dressing may look like a bigger, more squared band-aid, but it is not; it is better!

1. Super retention

Once peeled off, a band-aid can hardly be stuck back. But the silicone foam dressing with border is nothing like it. The bordered foam dressing ensures a gentle but secured fixation simultaneously. Even after peeling down once, it remains its adhesion, thus good for a frequent check on the wounds.

This principle also applies to the hard-to-dress area, such as fingers, legs and feet. They stay as strong as the second skin of patients’.

2. Breathable and bacteria resistant

Layered with even pore, the polyurethane film backing of silicone foam dressing is breathable, yet waterproof and bacteria resistant. Suppose the patients happen to live in hot and humid areas. In that case, this could be an indispensable feature to offer extra comfortability and healing effect against a large number of sweats that might otherwise weaken its fixation, eventually exposing the wounds to the bacteria-infested environment.

3. Better absorbency

If not treated properly, the exudate causes maceration, the softening and breaking down of skin resulting from prolonged exposure to moisture, or excessive amounts of fluid remaining in contact with the skin or the surface of a wound for extended periods. ^[2]  Unfortunately, maceration often occurs when applying a bandage to a wound, as the skin under the bandage becomes wet due to bodily fluids.

But the peri-wound maceration can be effectively avoided with the silicone foam dressing with border, or more precisely, its foam and nonwoven layer. The foam layer helps absorb mild to moderate exudate when the nonwoven layer distributes it properly.

4. Enhanced comfortability

Traditional wound care solutions, be them gauzes, bandages or band-aids, are always linked to pains when peeling down. Choosing the silicone foam dressing with border means the patients do not need to experience such pains anymore. Regardless of its strong fixation, the bordered foam dressing minimizes pain and trauma when peeling down, enhancing patients’ comfort greatly.

5. No residue

Finally, the silicone foam dressing with border leaves no silicone residue, keeping the skin clean.

Conclusion

This article has summarized the advanced wound care solution’s definition, application and benefits represented by the silicone foam dressing. Depending on the wound types and specific conditions, silicone foam dressing can sometimes be way more effective than gauze, making itself a better option. As China's leading manufacturer of disposable wound-care and surgical products, Winner Medical has been manufacturing both traditional and advanced medical dressings since 1991. We are always happy to provide you with any information needed to make your selections.

References:

[1] Soft Silicone Dressings Made Easy. Available at:

https://www.woundsinternational.com/download/resource/6106#:~:text=Soft%20silicone%20dressings%20are%20coated,adhesive%20residue%20on%20the%20skin4. (Accessed: 22 July, 2022)

[2] Skin maceration. Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_maceration. (Accessed: 25 July, 2022)