Sizing Adaptic to Wounds

[flyingchange]

Hey all,

Did a search on this and I haven't found anything. So, I ask you -

Adaptic comes in wide-ish sheets of about 2" whenever I've seen it. I've seen it used on incisions, necrotic toes, burns, and all kinds of things.

I've heard 2 schools of thought on how it should be sized to the wound. Side 1 says that the Adaptic should be sized as close to the actual wound size as possible because it can macerate the healthy skin. Side 2 days that Adaptic does not affect healthy skin so you can just put it on the wound bed as-is.

Haven't found a clear answer to this question.

What say you?

[Fiona59]

Never heard the idea of it causing masceration before, it's vaseline.

We use slightly larger. I'll never find the bit a previous unit had "forgotten". It was trimmed to size and been left so long that it required debridement to remove. I was looking at the wound bed trying to figure out the pattern when I realized the adaptic was still there. Specialist wound nurse wasn't impressed. So ever since then we've left it slightly larger to try and prevent this ever happening again.

[loriangel14, RN]

I have used it before and haven't cut it exactly to size.I have used it in top of skin tears because it doesn't stick to fragile tissue like skin of a senior. It didn't seem to cause any harm but as Fiona says you have to be sure to change it regularly.I too have seen some Adaptic left so long that it became differentiate from the wound tissue.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

I use Adaptic all the time. It really depends on the size of the wound, and your discretion. There are small and larger sized sheets. I usually have to cut it, but I cut a piece that extends slightly over the wound bed. Since its vaseline, you won't hurt anything.

[CompleteUnknown]

I generally cut or fold it so it's a bit bigger than the wound. It's not supposed to cause maceration to the surrounding skin but I find that it does with some people. If that's happening we generally put zinc and castor oil cream or similar around the wound. As others have said, the adaptic can get 'lost' in the wound bed if it's cut too small.