The Importance of Hydration in Wound Healing: Reinvigorating the clinical perspective

Balancing skin hydration levels is important as any disruption in skin integrity will result in disturbance of the dermal water balance. The discovery that a moist wound healing environment actively supports the healing response when compared to a dry environment highlights the importance of water and good hydration levels for optimal wound healing.
The benefits of “wet” or “hyper-hydrated” wound healing appears to offer benefits that are similar to those offered by moist wound healing over wounds healing in a dry environment. This suggests that the presence of free water itself during wound healing may not be detrimental to healing but that any adverse effects of wound fluid on tissues is more likely related to the biological components contained within chronic wound exudate (e.g. elevated protease levels).
Appropriate dressings applied to wounds must be able to absorb not only the exudate but also retain this excess fluid together with its protease solutes while concurrently preventing desiccation. This is particularly important in the case of chronic wounds where peri-wound skin barrier properties are compromised and there is increased permeation across the injured skin barrier. This review discusses the importance of appropriate levels of hydration in skin with a particular focus on the need for optimal hydration levels for effective healing.