ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE - CLINICAL SCIENCE: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter trial evaluating topical zinc oxide for acute open wounds following pilonidal disease excision

The purpose of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter trial was to compare topical zinc oxide with placebo mesh on secondary healing pilonidal wounds. Sixty-four (53 men) consecutive patients, aged 17-60 years, were centrally randomized to either treatment with 3% zinc oxide (n=33) or placebo (n=31) by concealed allocation. Patients were followed with strict recording of beneficial and harmful effects including masked assessment of time to complete wound closure. Analysis was carried out on an intention-to-treat basis. Median healing times were 54 days (interquartile range 42-71 days) for the zinc and 62 days (55-82 days) for the placebo group (p=0.32). Topical zinc oxide increased (p