This study was undertaken to compare
pain, healing time,
infection rate, and cosmetic outcome between
Aquacel Ag (Convatec) and
Glucan II (Brennan Medical) as donor site dressings. The authors performed a prospective, randomized, patient-controlled study. Eligible patients had two donor sites harvested. One site was dressed with
Aquacel Ag and the other site with
Glucan II. Patients were followed at set time points for 6 months to determine the rate of epithelialization, patient's perceived
pain,
infection rate, and the cosmetic outcome. A total of 20 patients were enrolled in the study. All patient data were collected through reepithelialization. The average time to wound healing for
Aquacel Ag was 12.5 ± 2.07 days compared with
Glucan II 12.7 ± 1.99 days. Perceived
pain scores for each donor site were recorded. On postoperative day 5, patients reported significantly less
pain with the
Aquacel Ag site (
Aquacel Ag 1.75 vs
Glucan II 2.5, P = .02). Three donor sites showed clinical signs of
infection (two
Glucan II and one
Aquacel Ag) prompting culture and dressing removal. There was no statistically significant difference in cosmetic outcomes of the donor sites at any time point. When comparing
Aquacel Ag and
Glucan II, our study has determined that there is no significant difference with regard to healing time,
infection rates, and cosmetic outcomes. Both dressings are comparable with regard to ease of application and
postoperative care.