Why do I need to wear a pressure garment after a burn injury?

The aim of wearing pressure garments is to keep the developing active scars flat and prevent them from raising above the level of the surrounding uninjured skin. It is understood that the pressure works by reducing the blood flow to the scarring skin and limits the delivery by the body of the tissue that creates the scar.

Pressure helps manage swelling that may happen when you are first injured but also in the longer term.

Pressure often helps manage itchiness and tingling sensations particularly on legs.

How is the pressure applied to my scars?

The type of compression that the burn therapists prescribes depends on your wound healing, what part of the body is affected, time since the burn wound has healed and individual needs.

Early on pressure or compression is applied with bandages and is part of the wound dressings and treatment.

The compression prescribed may continue to be by bandaging for example with cohesive pressure bandages such as Coban™ or with a tubular stretchy bandage such as Tubigrip™. Your therapist may get you to buy specific stretch clothing items for example sporting clothing such as Skins™. Or they may give you an ‘off the shelf’ garment that applies compression to the area such as an arm sleeve or sock garment.

Other times you may need a custom made pressure garment. Custom made pressure garment measurement and prescription needs to be done by a specialised therapist and is usually done by the burn therapist from the burn unit that treated your burn injury when it first occurred.

Custom made pressure garments are used when the area of burn scarring is over a large area of the body or in a specialised area such as the face and with children who are growing and do not fit a standard size of other kinds of pressure. The exact design and features of the pressure garments is decided by both the burn therapist and the patient taking into consideration the needs to help control the scarring and the patient’s ability to use the garments.

With all types of pressure garments there is usually a need to change and wash the garment daily so there needs to be two sets of any pressure garments so a fresh clean garment can be reapplied after showering or bathing.

How long do I have to wear pressure for?

The body is laying down scar tissue 24 hours per day and is doing this actively for up to 12 – 18 months after the burn has healed. The active scarring tends over the first 3-6 months to increase then slowly decreases over the next 6-9 months. During this whole active scarring period it is important to have the pressure on the scars close to 24hrs per day.

Does the pressure garment protect my skin from the sun?

Most pressure garments do not give you full protection from the sun so you should make sure you have extra sun protection. A good test is if you hold the garment up to the light and you can see through it then so can the sun.

Can I wear my pressure garments when playing sport, exercising and swimming?

Yes you can and should. You may need to change them more frequently, after exercise, bathe then replacing with a clean garment. Discuss this further with your therapist if you have particular concerns.

What should I be looking out for and talking to my therapist about?

Your therapist will tell you about what to look for and when to contact them about your pressure garment.

Common things to look out for are:

• Swelling of areas of the body that are not under pressure such as hands or feet
• Areas of skin that break down becoming an new open wound
• Changes in body weight or shape that cause the pressure garment to become too tight or too loose