Burns are widespread in the developed world, and expensive burn dressings are not universally available. Most burn patients suffer from a partial thickness burn that can be treated conservatively. Nevertheless, the ideal dressing for the burn wound has not been identified. We performed an animal experiment to compare the healing of partial thickness burns treated with silver sulfadiazine (SSD) and olive oil.

A randomized controlled animal experiment was conducted on 3 anesthetized domestic pigs in which 51 partial thickness burns were created using a metal bar heated to 400°C and applied to the dorsum of the animals for 20 seconds. The burns were treated every other day with SSD cream (n = 16), purified olive oil (n = 20), or no topical therapy at all (n = 15). Assessment of wound healing was done by drawing and scanning the margins of the wound at the endpoint of the experiment. The remaining open wound area was then calculated using Scion Image version beta 4.0.2 (Scion, Frederick, Md), and the results were analyzed using a 1-way ANOVA test.

Burns treated with SSD healed faster than control burns (P < .05). There were no differences in the healing rates of wounds treated with olive oil versus controls or SSD. There were no wound infections in any of the 3 study groups.

Treatment of partial thickness burns with purified olive oil did not result in faster healing when compared with SSD or dry gauze in a porcine model.