Wound Dressings: A Review on Current Methods, Application of Smart Materials and Nanostructured Wound Dressings

Complications regarding the treatment of cutaneous wounds bring about numerous social and economic problems for both patients and healthcare systems. Conventional wound dressings do not often fulfill the clinical requirements; therefore, smart, multifunctional wound dressings with potential to interact with the wound microenvironment are being developed to improve the process of wound healing. Various sensors and smart materials, namely stimuli-responsive materials are implemented in the development of such wound dressings to improve the efficacy and the speed of the wound healing process. In this review article, recent advances regarding smart wound dressings including biomechanical wound dressings, stimuli-responsive wound dressings, self-removal wound dressings, self-healing wound dressings for motional wounds and multifunctional wound dressings with monitoring capacity have been investigated. Furthermore, the utilized smart materials in these wound dressings in particular nanomaterials have been introduced. Finally, challenges with respect to the application of such wound dressings and prospective of the future advancements have been discussed.