2023, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (3): 434-440

Advances and biological application of asymmetric dressings

Zhou Jie, Pei Xibo, Wan Qianbing   

Abstract: BACKGROUND: It has been a consensus to use wound dressings to protect and promote wound healing after debridement, but now there is no ideal multi-functional dressing that can simulate the skin structure. Asymmetric dressings can mimic the skin structure to the greatest extent, resistant to infection, control the water vapor exchange and promote the efflux of exudate. Therefore, asymmetric dressings have a great potential to become a kind of ideal wound dressings.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the latest research progress and biological application of asymmetric dressings.
METHODS: The literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI and Wanfang databases, and the keywords were “asymmetric dressing, wound asymmetric membrane, wound asymmetric film” in Chinese and English. The articles were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, 53 articles were included for review.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Asymmetric dressings can simulate the structure of human skin, besides, its density hydrophobic layer can prevent invasion of external bacterium and control the exchange of water vapor. The hydrophilic layer is able to load and release the required drugs. The porous structure is conducive to cell proliferation and adhesion, thus promoting wound healing. The asymmetric characteristics do not significantly affect the physical properties of the asymmetric dressings, but these dressings are usually composed of multiple materials, resulting in better properties than single material. According to their structural characteristics, current asymmetric dressings can be divided into three types: single-layer modified asymmetric dressings, double-layer asymmetric dressings and gradient asymmetric dressings. In the future work, asymmetric dressings will be endowed with more and more intelligent functions and will be further developed as a potential ideal skin substitute, to solve the problems faced by traditional dressings in clinical application.
Key words: asymmetric dressing, new wound dressing, gradient dressing, resistance to infection, drug delivery system, Janus film, wound healing, review