Dressings used in equine traumatic wound care

Wound management in horses can be challenging, time consuming and expensive. Horses and ponies are presented to the veterinary surgeon and nurse with many types of traumatic wounds (Figure 1 and 2). Potential complications can occur depending on the anatomical position, degree of contamination and involvement of important structures such as joints, tendons and nerves, which can have a marked influence on the prognosis. In horses, involvement of joints and other synovial structures is extremely serious because if sepsis of these structures is not controlled with medical or surgical means, then non-weight bearing lameness can necessitate euthanasia. Careful evaluation and correct management of wounds is essential for an optimal result. Most wounds on the body of the horse heal well (Jacobs et al, 1984; Knottenbelt, 1997; Wilmink and Weeren, 2004), however, wounds involving the distal limbs can be difficult to deal with as horses often develop profuse exuberant granulation tissue in these wounds due to poor blood supply. The distal limb is also composed of mainly tendinous and ligamentous tissue, with minimal skin to create tension free closure of wounds, making it impossible to close due to excessive tension on the skin causing dehiscence.