Debridement

In Surgical Debridement, unhealthy tissue is removed by cutting it off with sterilized curettes, scalpels, scissors, or other medical instruments.

The cut indeed doesn’t extend to surrounding healthy tissue.

Besides, it is one of the quickest ways in order to debride the wound that requires anaesthesia.

This process is employed for deep, large, or painful wounds.

Major Types of Debridement and Advance Dressing:

Surgical Debridement

In Surgical Debridement, unhealthy tissue is removed by cutting it off with sterilized curettes, scalpels, scissors, or other medical instruments. The cut indeed doesn’t extend to surrounding healthy tissue. Besides, it is one of the quickest ways in order to debride the wound that requires anaesthesia. This process is employed for deep, large, or painful wounds.

Autolytic Debridement

Autolytic Debridement is a process that uses your body’s natural fluids or enzymes to soften devitalized or dead tissue. It can be performed with a moisture-retaining dressing that should be changed once a day. In this process, damaged tissue swells up and segregate from the wound when the moisture accumulates. It is one of the most effective treatments for pressure sores and non-infected wounds. In comparison with other methods, it is considered quite slower to debride the injury.

Enzymatic Debridement

In Enzymatic Debridement or chemical debridement, a gel or an ointment with enzymes are used to soften unhealthy tissue. The source of enzymes includes animals, plants, and bacteria. The medication such as ointment, lotion, gel, and cream is applied once or sometimes twice a day. In this process, the wound is covered with a dressing that should be changed on a regular basis. The covering will take away the damaged tissue when removed. It is an ideal method if you have a high risk for surgical complications or bleeding problems. Moreover, it is not recommended particularly for severely infected or large wounds.

Mechanical Debridement

One of the most common methods, Mechanical Debridement removes damaged or unhealthy tissue with a moving force. In simpler words, it involves either a monofilament fibre pad or impregnated gauze/tulle dressings, dry or wet-to-dry gauze dressing in order to remove dead tissue. Additionally, a moistened gauze pad is applied to the wound bed. And, as it dries out, the unhealthy or old tissue sticks to it can be easily ripped off.

These are the types of mechanical debridement:

Hydrotherapy: In this method, running water is used in order to wash away old or dead tissue. It may include a shower treatment, catheter tube, syringe, or a whirlpool bath.
Wet-to-dry dressing: When performing this mechanical debridement type, wet gauze is applied to the injury. Once it dries and sticks to wound, it is physically removed that takes away the unhealthy tissue.
Monofilament debridement pads: A soft polyester pad is employed to remove the damaged tissue as well as wound debris.

Maggot Therapy:

Also called Biological Debridement, Larval Therapy, or Biosurgery, Maggot Therapy utilizes sterile maggots from the species Lucilia sericata. And, thus, helps wound healing by eating old or dead tissue. In fact, it also controls infection by eating a huge variety of harmful bacteria and releasing antibacterial substances. In this method, the maggots are placed in a mesh bag or on the wound with a dressing. They are left for 24 to 72 hours and removed twice or sometimes thrice a week. Furthermore, Maggot Therapy is the best specifically for wounds that are large and infected by antibiotic-resistant strains of several bacteria, like MRSA ( Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).