Spontaneous Healing and Treatment Alternatives in Burns

Tissue losses that may occur in certain burn wounds may heal spontaneously without requiring any surgical intervention. However, this spontaneous healing is usually observed in smaller and superficial burn wounds, whereas surgical intervention may be indispensable in the tissue damages that occur in deeper and larger-scale burns treated using classical methods. Although surgery is frequently applied in the treatment of burn wounds, the variety of methods that enhance spontaneous healing are increasing in number. For this purpose, these methods involve the prevention of the wound from drying and maintaining a physiological and aseptic moisturization. On the other hand, especially in burn wounds with extensive tissue loss, the lack of adequate skin donor areas gives rise to the need for a cover material alternative to the skin. For these reasons, efforts to develop equivalent materials that may replace the original skin are progressing rapidly nowadays. The increase in the variety and advantages of the materials, which are developed using state-of-the-art bioengineering methods in the light of modern technologies, is quite promising. [Arch Clin Exp Surg 2013; 2(3.000): 186-196]