Evidence- Based Practice: Clinical Evaluation of a New Silver Soft Silicone Postoperative Dressing in Total Knee and Hip Arthroplasty

Dressing complica/ons such as blistering, macera/on and skin stripping occur with orthopedic surgeries due to the interplay of shear, fric/on and microclimate as the dressing moves across the joint. Postopera/ve edema contributes. See Figure 1. Blisters caused by dressings are common, painful and may lead to infec/on at or near the surgical site. Blistering is reported to occur in 6-24% of hip and knee trauma and elec/ve surgeries, oGen on the 4th or 5th postopera/ve day.^1,2 The characteris/cs of a dressing may influence the amount of skin damage incurred postopera/vely.