Introduction
This case study illustrates the use of ACTICOAT^◊ to treat superficial and partial thickness burns of the hands.

Patient
The patient was a 21 year old male who attended the emergency department with burns to both hands. The burns had been caused by the patient attempting to push objects into a bonfire he had lit to dispose of rubble. The wounds had been immediately cooled under running water.

The patient presented with superficial burns to the right hand and a partial thickness burn on the extensor side of the left hand.

Treatment
The blisters on the left hand were ablated and a paraffin gauze dressing with SSD was applied and covered with pads and gauze bandages. Subsequently the patient received a tetanus booster. The patient was told to return the following day.

On day 2, the primary dressing was removed under significant pain, the patient was treated with a hand bath and further blisters were removed. It was decided to apply the ACTICOAT^◊ dressing. The ACTICOAT^◊ was moistened with distilled water and applied to the wound.

 When the patient returned after a further 2 days, the wound appeared free from infection. The back of the hand was slightly swollen, so a wound swab was taken. This revealed discrete colonisation with Staphylococcus, but it was decided that oral antibiotic therapy was unnecessary.

ACTICOAT^◊ was applied in a similar fashion for a further 2 days.

Outcome
On the 5th day following the accident, the beginning of epithelialisation was observed. The dressing regime was changed to CUTINOVA^◊ Thin (Fig. 3).

After 14 days, the wound was completely re-epithelialized and only skin care was required (Fig. 4).

Fig1	Fig 2
Fig 3	Fig 4

^TMSILCRYST is a trademark of NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals Corp, used under licence