ABSTRACT
Introduction: Collagen is an endogenous substance, which forms an important structural component in connective tissue andis of special importance in the skin. The importance of collagen in healing has been appreciated for many years for the simplereason that the end result of wound healing is always a scar which is composed of collagenous fibers.Aims: This prospective randomized controlled study was designed to compare the effectiveness of collagen dressing and silversulfadiazine dressing in partial-thickness burns.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at Government Royapettah Hospital, Chennai. A total of 60 patients withpartial-thickness burn wounds were included in this study, and they are divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 30 patientsin whom collagen dressing was done. Group 2 consisted of 30 patients in whom silver sulfadiazine dressing was done. Thevariables analyzed were pain score, infection rate, the rate of healing of the wound, resultant scar, and patient compliance.Patients with partial-thickness burns involving <40% of the total body surface area and wounds not older than 24 h are inclusioncriteria in the study, whereas patients with full-thickness burns, burns involving >40% of the total body surface area, woundsolder than 24 h, and facial burns are the exclusion criteria for this study.Results: The average pain score in the range of 0–10 was 7.10 in the silver sulfadiazine group and 2.87 in the collagen group.Infection was present in 40% of the patients in the silver sulfadiazine group, whereas it was only 13.3% in the collagen group. Insilver sulfadiazine group, healing was achieved on an average of 17.77 days, whereas in the collagen group, it took 11.80 days.Conclusion: Collagen sheet promotes early healing, decreases the need for analgesics, and reduces the incidence of associatedcomplications such as infection. The morbidity of the patients is reduced as the resultant scar is better in the majority of thepatients using collagen. Due to the simple application and good tolerance of the membrane, collagen can be advocated as atemporary biological dressing material in partial-thickness burns.