Facial
burns are very common and have significant clinical impact. However, the treatment regimen for superficial to deep facial
burns is not well defined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cadaver
skin grafting in deep partial thickness facial
burns in comparison to standard care. In a prospective open study design severely injured patients with superficial and deep partial thickness
burns were randomized into the group receiving open treatment with silversulfadiazine (standard n=5) or into the group receiving early superficial
debridement followed by coverage with glycerolized cadaver skin (n=5). The outcome measures were time and quality of wound healing, and incidence of hypertrophic
scarring at 3 and 6 months post
burn. There were no significant differences in demographics between groups. In the group treated with the allogenic material time to reepithelialization was 10.5 days, while it was 12.4 days in the silversulfadiazine group (p<0.05).
Scar quality was found to be significantly improved in the allogenic treatment group. Three and 6 months postburn there were no patients with significant hypertrophic
scarring in the allogenic group while there were two patients who developed
hypertrophic scars in the silversulfadiazine group (p<0.05). In this study, we demonstrated that glyzerolized cadaver allograft skin represents a superior
biological dressing for shallow and deep partial thickness facial
burns. This is in concordance with other reports on scalds. It would be worthwhile to perform more clinical studies with a larger number of patients to further evaluate the effect and function of allogenic skin for facial
burns.