Name	Type of therapy	Characteristics
Bacitracin	Topical	Narrow antimicrobial coverage; inexpensive; painless; requires frequent dressing changes; can be used on face or near mucous membranes1
Mafenide acetate (Sulfamylon)	Topical	Broad-spectrum antimicrobial coverage; penetrates eschar; may delay healing or cause metabolic acidosis; used for deep burns1,12
Mupirocin (Bactroban)	Topical	Good gram-positive antimicrobial coverage; expensive; painless; requires frequent dressing changes; can be used on face1
SSD (Silvadene)	Topical	Broad-spectrum antimicrobial coverage; painless; requires frequent dressing changes; delays healing; stains tissue; used in deeper partial-thickness burns; relatively contraindicated in pregnant women, newborns, nursing mothers, and patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency or sulfa allergy1,6,12,24–26
Aquacel Ag	Absorptive dressing	Silver impregnated; broad-spectrum antimicrobial coverage; decreases dressing changes; reduces pain; decreases use of pain medications; faster wound closure than with standard therapies12,27; decreased total cost compared with SSD33
Biobrane	Biocomposite dressing	Less pain and shorter time to healing than with SSD; expensive but lower total treatment cost compared with SSD28–30; one study showed effectiveness in superficial burns, but high failure rates with mid-dermal depth burns34
Hydrocolloids (Duoderm, Urgotul)	Absorptive dressing	Less pain and shorter time to wound closure than with SSD; good for weeping burns; malodorous; opaque1,31,35
Impregnated nonadherent gauze (Xeroform, Vaseline gauze)	Nonabsorptive dressing	No antimicrobial activity; messy; provides a nonadherent barrier over the burn for absorptive dressings; used for superficial burns1
Silicone (Mepitel)	Nonabsorptive dressing	Expensive; painless; allows seepage of exudates to secondary bandage1
Silver-impregnated dressing (Acticoat)	Nonabsorptive dressing	Delivers low concentrations of silver; broad-spectrum antimicrobial coverage; nonadherent; reduces pain; expensive1,10,12,36