A prospective study evaluating wound healing with sea cucumber gel compared with hydrogel in treatment of skin graft donor sites

•Sea-cucumber or gamat is a popular natural traditional food in south east Asia, believed to be with medicinal properties.•Stichopus Horrens, a type of gamat, contains certain fatty acids which are proven beneficial in wound healing.•This study compares gamat gel, to control hydrogel, to assess difference in wound epithelialization and patient tolerance. Gamat (sea-cucumber) is a natural occurring fauna which is popularly used as traditional medication in Southeast Asian countries. There have been many animal studies done on its’ biochemical properties and its’ effects in vivo. The effect of gamat on human cutaneous wounds was studied using a split-skin graft donor site wound. This was a comparative case-control study done on patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (Hospital USM), requiring split-thickness skin grafting, whereby, the skin graft donor site was divided to almost equal halves, and applied with both gamat-based gel on one side, with Duoderm® hydrogel on the other side. The epithelialization of the wounds was observed and compared on days 10, 14 and 21. Pain score, and pruritus score were also observed. Repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and Paired t-test was used to test statistical significance accordingly. No significant differences were seen in rates of epithelialization of wounds on days 10, 14 and 21 (p > 0.01). No significant difference was also seen in the pain score and pruritus score (p > 0.01). A gamat-based gel is comparable to conventional hydrogels in treatment of split-skin graft donor site. No adverse effects were observed in either group.