Silflex soft silicone wound contact dressing: Case study 11

Pam Cooper, David Gray, Fiona Russell and Sandra String fellow are Clinical Nurse Specialists; Melvyn Bertram, Kristine Duguid and Gail Pirie are Tissue Viability Nurses at the Department of Tissue Viability, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen

Case report 11

Figure 1. Multiple tears and bruising to right lower limb.

In this case a 90-year-old woman was reviewed while receiving palliative care. She had sustained multiple skin tears secondary to cardiac failure/oedema (Figure 1). It became clear that wound healing was not a realistic prospect, however she was experiencing significant pain at dressing changes and it was decided to use a silicone dressing, Silflex (Advancis Medical), to cover the various wounds and minimise the trauma. Figures 2 and 3 show the Silflex being applied, which allowed the absorbent pads to be changed frequently and atraumatically. By taking this approach, the patient’s quality of life was improved as the number of dressing changes was reduced and the dressings themselves did not adhere to the wound bed.

Figure 3. Left leg with Silflex partially applied to skin tears.

CONCLUSION

These case reports illustrate the clinical benefits of using Silflex soft silicone wound contact layer. The majority of patients were elderly, a factor which not only impacts on healing, but often means that the skin is fragile. Being soft and conformable with a high tensile strength, Silflex can be inserted into wounds which do not have uniform dimensions, and the clinician can be sure of retrieving the dressing in tact.

In three cases, Silflex was used in conjunction with negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT), and prevented adherence to underlying tissue while promoting healing.

The dressing was also used successfully in heavily exuding wounds, allowing the passage of exudate into the secondary dressing, while remaining in situ and allowing the secondary dressing to be changed without causing trauma to the wound bed.

The dressing performed well in all of these cases, and the patients were positive about the product in terms of reducing pain at dressing change.

Many of the patients had particularly friable skin and, again, Silflex played a key role in protecting the skin from further damage.

As we are presented with more and more complex chronic wounds, dressings such as Silflex will become more necessary to prevent secondary damage to the wound bed and surrounding skin, and to reduce trauma and pain during dressing removal.