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Abstract
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We thank the readers for their valuable and interesting feedback on our recent article "Electrical flash burns due to switchboard explosion".
They point out that modified moist occlusive burn therapy (MMOBT) may be an alternative treatment for electrical flash burns. Although moist occlusive burn therapy (MOBT) and moist exposure burn therapy (MEBT) had been widely used in burn units, the optimal treatment remains controversial. In 2012, Mabrouk et al. found that moist occlusive dressing (Aquacel[®] Ag) significantly improves the management and healing rate of partial thickness facial burns with better long-term outcome compared with moist open dressing (MEBO[®]). Scar quality was improved in the occlusive group. The frequency of dressing changes, pain and patient discomfort were also reduced in the occlusive group.1 Nevertheless, in 2016, Soltan Dallal et al. found that occlusive dressing was more susceptible to microbial contamination and infections than exposure dressing.2 Due to the limitations of both burn therapies, a novel therapeutic strategy is urgently needed. Based on the studies by Winter and Hinman in the 1960s, a new therapeutic concept, that sterile polyethylene film might be used as a type of moist occlusive dressing, was first proposed.3, 4 Based on this hypothesis, we first create a successful paradigm for the evolution of traditional burn therapy. To distinguish it from traditional MOBT, modified moist occlusive burn therapy (MMOBT) is first named by our team.5 MMOBT not only combines the advantages of both MOBT and MEBT but also eliminates the major disadvantages of both therapies. First, compared with MOBT, sterile polyethylene film effectively avoided the avulsion of new granulation tissue and alleviated the suffering of patients during dressing changes. Second, the transparent film allowed direct and close observation of the changes and healing of wounds. Third, compared with MEBT, the sterile polyethylene film covering could create a relatively closed and moist environment that could accelerate the speed of epithelization.
However, according to the readers' perspective...
Language: en |