Few studies have mentioned the side effects related to alginate dressings, and many studies believe that alginate dressings are convenient to use and easy to remove. But there are studies reporting foreign body reactions caused by alginate dressings, which, although rare, can also provide us with clues. A report mentioned that a foreign body giant cell reaction occurred 7 months after using alginate dressings for hemostasis in root canal resection surgery. This case suggests that the residual alginate fibers in the wound may cause chronic symptomatic foreign body reactions. The author suggests that alginate dressings can be used for problematic bleeding, but they should be thoroughly removed after hemostasis. This is currently the only report on alginate induced foreign body reactions. It can be seen from this that it is necessary to flush the wound bed during dressing change.

The efficacy of alginate dressings in hemostasis is controversial. A prospective randomized clinical study compared the control ability of alginate dressings and regular cotton swabs on bleeding after extraction of deciduous teeth. A total of 101 healthy children aged 3-5 years were enrolled. Teeth are extracted under general anesthesia, and bleeding is collected to measure the amount of bleeding. It was found that alginate dressings did not show significant advantages.

Can alginate dressings alleviate postoperative pain in the donor site?

How effective is alginate dressing for filling deeper wounds?

Alginate dressings have good compliance and strong liquid absorption ability, and are commonly used in the filling treatment of cavity wounds in clinical practice. Practice has shown that they have good effects in cleaning wounds and promoting granulation tissue growth. If the wound is infected, a silver containing alginate dressing can be chosen for precise results.

A prospective randomized controlled study compared the therapeutic effects of alginate dressings and glycan anhydride ointment on pressure ulcers with full-thickness skin defects, involving 92 pressure ulcer patients. During the treatment process, 74% of patients in the alginate dressing group achieved at least 40% reduction in wound area, while only 42% of patients in the glycan ointment group achieved this goal. The median time required to achieve this goal was 4 weeks for the alginate dressing group and 8 weeks or more for the glycan anhydride ointment group. The average wound area decreased by 2.39cm2 per week in the alginate dressing group, while it was only 0.27cm2 in the polysaccharide port ointment group (P=0.0001). In addition, there was a significant difference in the number of patients who recovered at the end of the study between the two groups. In this study, alginate dressings showed effective healing promoting effects, indicating that they have certain drug properties and are worthy of further research.

1. Extracting fibers from seaweed promotes granulation growth and has good biocompatibility

3. Can absorb 16 times its own weight and penetrate into the night, resulting in longer usage time

5. Soft, can fill the wound cavity and promote cavity growth

7. Provide support for the surrounding tissue of the wound, absorb exudate, and promote cavity growth