© 2022 MJH Life Sciences and Dermatology Times and Multimedia Medical, LLC. All rights reserved.

© 2022 MJH Life Sciences™ , Dermatology Times and Multimedia Medical, LLC. All rights reserved.

NEXGEL’s dressing demonstrates significant scar improvement as early as 6 weeks after surgery.

New data showed silver hydrogel dressings (SilverSeal Hydrogel Dressing; NEXGEL, Inc.) demonstrated significant improvement in patients with scars and burns.1 The study aimed to evaluate the effects of a silver hydrogel dressing on postoperative scarring and complications. NEXGEL, a provider of high-water content hydrogel products for healthcare, announced the results in SAGE Journals’ Scars, Burns and Healing publication.

Scars form after ankle and foot surgeries and can cause several serious concerns for the patient and surgeon. Linear incisions are the most common type used in surgery and can cause scars that impede healing.Patients often worry about the cosmetic appearance of scars; surgeons say the improperlyhealed scars can impact range of motion, gait, and delay the patient’s return to activities.

A total of 40 foot and ankle patients, aged 32 to 66, were included in the double-blind, randomized study with 20 patients in each group. The treatment patients received a silver hydrogel dressing (SHD), and the control group was given a standard petroleum-based dressing. Researchers evaluated scarring and complications, and conducted follow-ups at two, six and 12 weeks post-surgery using the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS), which measures a scar’s quality from both the physician (vascularity, pigmentation, thickness, relief, and surface area) and patient perspective(pain, itchiness, color, stiffness, thickness, irregularity). 

In previous studies, the SHD was found to be ~99% effective in reducing streptococcus pneumoniae, compared to ~13% efficacy of the reference gauze and ~99% effective in reducing staphylococcus epidermidis, compared to ~17% efficacy of the reference gauze.2 Silver-impregnated dressings, like the one used in this study have been found to reduce the bioburden of a wound through its bactericidal activity.

Researchers involved in the study did cite limitations, such as the small patient population (n=40) and lacked long-term follow up. They say they did not assess patient adherence to their assigned protocol; therefore, they did not know if the patients applied the dressing daily as instructed. Despite the limitations, they believe the current results demonstrate that the use of the SHD dressing following foot or ankle surgery to be beneficial to scar remodeling compared to the standard control.

1. Miner S A, Lee J, Protzman N M and Brigido S A. The effect of a silver hydrogel sheet dressing on postsurgical incision healing after foot and ankle surgery. Scars, Burns & Healing, Volume 8, 2022. doi:10.1177/20595131221122303

2. Nexgel. NEXGEL announces positive results from its antimicrobial study of its SilverSeal® product line. NEXGEL Announces Positive Results From its Antimicrobial Study of its SilverSeal® Product Line. Published October 6, 2021. Accessed October 5, 2022.https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nexgel-announces-positive-results-from-its-antimicrobial-study-of-its-silverseal-product-line-301393749.html.