Table 1.

Representative topical agents and burn dressings for partial thickness burns

	Description	Advantage	Disadvantage
Topical agents
Triple antibiotic ointment/bacitracin	Topical antimicrobial ointment	Inexpensive, painless, maintains moist environment	Requires frequent daily applications, messy, does not penetrate eschar
Silver sulfadiazine	Water based cream containing silver salt	Wide antimicrobial coverage, painless	Delays healing, stains tissues, contains sulfa, may cause leukopenia
Mafenide acetate	Water based cream	Penetrates eschar, wide antibacterial coverage, can be used on face	May be painful to apply, associated with metabolic acidosis
Advanced dressings
Mepilex Ag	Silver impregnated, silicone coated foam	May be left for 7 days, absorptive, broad antimicrobial coverage, comfortable, easy to remove	Expensive, do not use with magnetic resonance imaging
Aquacel Ag	Nylon, silver impregnated dressing	May be left for 7 days, broad antimicrobial coverage, painless	Expensive, not compatible with oil-based products
Duoderm	Hydrocolloid	May be left for 7 days, painless, facilitates autolytic debridement	Not for large, heavily exudating burns
Mepitel	Silicone	May be left for up to 14 days, painless	Expensive, non absorptive, no antimicrobial activity