Treatment
Paraffin ointment or mupirocin ointment did not differ from no ointment under moist occlusive dressings on non-contaminated surgical wounds for wound infections
Dixon AJ, Dixon MP, Dixon JB. Randomized clinical trial of the effect of applying ointment to surgical wounds before occlusive dressing. Br J Surg 2006;93:937–43.[CrossRef][Medline]
Q Does use of ointment or ointment containing an antibiotic under occlusive dressings reduce wound infections and complications more than no ointment in non-contaminated surgical wounds?
Key Words: antibacterial agents • mupirocin • ointments • occlusive dressings • wound healing • postoperative complications
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Design:
randomised controlled trial.
Allocation:
unclear concealment.
Blinding:
surgeon assessing outcome.
Follow up period:
at removal of sutures and 6–9 months.
Setting:
a skin cancer clinic in Belmont, Victoria, Australia.
Patients:
778 newly referred patients 
18 years of age (mean age 59 y, 54% men) who had skin lesions that required incisional or excisional surgery and would result in wounds closed with interrupted polyamide sutures. A total of 1801 wounds were included (median 1 wound/patient, range 1–15 wounds). Exclusion criteria were skin contamination or infection before surgery, surgical site not amenable to moist occlusive dressings (eg, eyelid), known allergy to occlusive dressings or ointment preparations, or partial thickness skin graft donor sites.
Intervention:
269 patients (729 wounds) were allocated to paraffin ointment (Lacri-Lube®, Allergan, Irvine, California); 262 patients (562 wounds) were allocated to mupirocin ointment, 20 mg/g (Bactroban®, GlaxoSmithKline, Brentford, UK); and 247 patients (510 wounds) were allocated to no
School of Nursing and Midwifery, De Montfort University
Leicester, UK
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