Zinc oxide/dimethicone, a “touchless spray,” had a significantly lower healing time than the widely used silver sulfadiazine in the treatment of pediat- ric burn patients and may prove to be a useful tool for treating burn wounds, according to a study published in the Journal of Burn Care & Research. Researchers sought to compare the efficacy of the silver sulfadiazine to that of zinc oxide/dimethicone to determine if zinc oxide/dimethicone, in its easy- to-use form, is a viable alternative to silver sulfadi- azine. They conducted a review of the electronic medical records of all patients treated for perineal, genital, perianal, suprapubic, or buttocks burn wounds at a large pediatric verified burn center from January 1, 2014 to October 28, 2019. After initial evaluation and treatment by the burn team, all patients were followed at a weekly burn clinic until complete healing was achieved. The re- searchers extracted demographic data; wound size, depth, and location; management strategies, time to complete healing; and incidence of infectious and non-infectious complications. The control group contained patients with total body surface area burns significantly greater than the zinc oxide/ dimethicone group, likely due to selective treatment when zinc oxide/dimethicone was first introduced at the facility. Time to healing was significantly lower in the zinc oxide/dimethicone intervention group (12.16 +/- 8.644 days) than the silver sulfa- diazine control group (16.89 +/- 11.342 days). No infections were observed. However, the study team noted that further research is needed to determine the efficacy and safety of zinc oxide/dimethicone.
