Omiderm treatment of scalds in children.

As a temporary dressing on scald wounds in children Omiderm was tried in 10 consecutive patients. Omiderm is a thin, transparent, hydrophilic polyurethane membrane, permeable to water and oxygen. It was applied on the wound when exudation was declining, about 4-10 hours postburn. The dressing formed a crust with the wound exudate and was removed when the wound had reepithelialized or at day 14 postburn before split skin grafting of the wound if the wound had not yet healed. The dressing had no advantages nor disadvantages compared to conventional exposure treatment with regard to healing time, rate of bacterial contamination, need for split skin grafting, quality of scars on spontaneously healed areas nor comfort to the patients.