• Martijn B A van der Wal, Paul P van Zuijlen, Peter van de Ven, and Esther Middelkoop.
• Burn Center and the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Hand Surgery, Red Cross Hospital, Beverwijk, The Netherlands.
• Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 2010 Aug 1;126(2):524-31.

BackgroundSilicone sheets are widely used in the treatment of hypertrophic scars, although application around joints may cause limited adherence and reduced movement. To approach these problems, a topical silicone gel was developed that can be applied easily in a thin layer, and that is nonrestrictive and less apparent. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of topical silicone gel in promoting the maturation of burn scars.MethodsForty-six scars on 23 patients were included in a randomized, placebo-controlled, within-subject comparative, double-blinded, clinical trial and followed for 1 year. The mean age of the scars at inclusion was 4 months. Effectiveness on scar quality was evaluated using the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale and the DermaSpectrometer. Significance was tested using repeated measures analyses and Wilcoxon paired-sample signed rank tests.ResultsOver all visits, the benefit on surface roughness was statistically significant (p = 0.012). At individual time points, the surface of the topical silicone gel-treated scars showed significantly less roughness (p = 0.014) at 3 months after start of the treatment, and the topical silicone gel-treated scars were significantly less itchy (p = 0.018 and p = 0.013, respectively) at 3 and 6 months.ConclusionTopical silicone gel significantly improves the surface roughness of burn scars, and patients experience significantly less itching in the first half year after application.

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