Hydrogel Bandages, Non-Adhesive Wound Dressings

What is a Hydrogel Dressing?

Hydrogel dressings help regulate the fluid exchange on a wound surface, assisting in healing of the damaged skin layers, veins and tissues. Compounds from the hydrogel are exchanged with sodium and other discharge from the wound. Hydrogels are usually made up of about 90 percent water suspended in a gel base, though they can be made with a variety of different compounds. Hydrogels assist in providing the appropriate amount of moisture needed for wound healing. This can help the tissues debride, granulate and eventually heal fully.

Some hydrogels also provide cooling for the wound, helping to reduce pain that may occur from healing of the wound and the surrounding skin surface. Because of the gel contained in the dressings, hydrogels can additionally fill in deeper sections of wounds (or “dead space”) that can otherwise be difficult to treat. Mimicking a flat tissue surface in this manner may help to speed up the healing process.

Types of Hydrogel Dressings

Hydrogels are available in three forms:

Amorphous hydrogel — free-flowing gel, packaged in tubes, foil packets and spray bottles. These hydrogels are formulations of water, polymers and other ingredients with no shape, designed to donate moisture to a dry wound and to maintain a moist healing environment. Unlike the other types, this viscous (thick) dressing flows freely and is often able to flow into the nooks and crannies of deep wounds and punctures. While it is the most flexible, amorphous hydrogel often needs to be covered by a secondary dressing so that it stays in place and remains helpful in the wound surface.

Impregnated hydrogel — amorphous hydro­gel saturated onto gauze pads, nonwoven sponge ropes and/or gauze strips. The impregnated hydrogel can be packed into a deep or uneven wound or laid over the wound. This type of hydrogel dressing often needs to be covered by a secondary dressing to cover the entire wound and provide full protection.

Sheet hydrogel — the gel is suspended inside a thin fiber mesh. This type of dressing can overlap intact skin and generally won’t cause harm. The sheets can usually be cut to fit the wound’s unique shape and come with and without adhesive borders. They are highly conformable, permeable and depending on their composition can absorb varying amounts of drainage. They are non-adhesive against the wound for easy removal.

What are the Benefits of Using Hydrogel Dressings?

Hydrogel dressings create a moist healing environment which promotes autolytic debridement, epithelialization and wound granulation. By increasing moisture content, hydrogels have the ability to help cleanse and debride necrotic tissue from the wound surface. Due to their high water content, these dressings produce a cooling effect that can relieve pain for several hours. Because hydrogels do not adhere to wound surfaces, the discomfort of dressing changes is also reduced. These dressings can be used when infection is present.

Wounds that may benefit from a hydrogel dressing include:
Dry or slightly moist wounds
Abrasions or minor burns
Radiation skin damage
Partial-thickness and full-thickness wounds
Wounds with slough, eschar or granulation tissue
Painful wounds

The wound healing process is a complex series of events. It begins at the moment of injury and may continue for many months or years. The benefits of using hydrogel-based dressings for wound care are vast. An excellent source for providing moisture to a dry lesion, hydrogel dressings cool down a wound, keep the wound moist, assist in protecting your body from wound infection and promote efficient healing.

Rehabmart is pleased to present a large assortment of superior quality hydrogel dressings from vendors including McKesson Medical Surgical, Independence Medical, Sage and Sun Holdings, Medline and DeRoyal.

Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Co-Founder & CEO

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