When considering what to put in the “Advances in Burn Care” section this time, I was hard pressed to find enough that was new in burn care to fill an entire issue. I decided instead to devote this issue of WOUNDS to the history of burn care. This way, we all can remember from whence we came in burn care.

Two articles are written by Chester Paul, MD. I asked Dr. Paul to write a review of the history of burn grafting. He believed that the topic was too large in scope for one review, and decided to write one article on skin grafting and another on the use of skin s

“It is nearly 100 years since antisepsis came to dominate the treatment of burns. All that has been accomplished, as far as we can see from the data available, has been to offset the good that sound physiological and surgical principles and modern aseptic technique should have afforded.”¹
—Carl A. Moyer, MD, 1954

Large surface area burns continue to be one of the most difficult and deadly problems the medical community faces today. Although major strides have been made in burn care throughout the years, many difficulties remain. Historically, some rather bizarre and egregious concoctions, at least by modern standards, have been applied to burns to promote healing. Barbara Ravage, author of Burn Unit, records and describes fascinating unguents and emollients that include using calf dung and black mud as topical burn treatments, as recorded in the Ebers Papyrus from the 1500s BC.¹

International Best Practices Introduced for V.A.C.® Therapy The first comprehensive publication of international best practices for the use of KCI’s V.A.C.® Therapy (KCI, San Antonio, Tex) was introduced at the Third Congress of the World Union of Wound Healing Societies in Toronto, Canada.

Entitled, Principles for Best Practice—Vacuum Assisted Closure: Recommendations for Use, A Consensus Document, the document was developed by an international expert working group to provide guidance on the successful integration of the V.A.C. into clinical practice for

“We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours.”

                         —John of Salisbury, 1159 AD