Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of different dressing methods in wound healing and the postoperative outcome in children who underwent hypospadias repair. METHODS: Altogether 109 children with distal hypospadias who underwent urethroplasty were recruited from our hospital between January 2021 and March 2023. All patients were randomized in two groups according to the different dressing methods: Group A receiving 3 M antimicrobial incise drape + MEBO (moisture-exposed burn ointment) and Group B receiving absorbent dressing + elastic bandage dressing. The age at surgery, operation time, bleeding during the dressing, postoperative changes in glans color, dressing fell off, comfort of children during the dressing, difficulty in dressing removal, and degree of pain during dressing removal were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Differences in age at surgery (p = 0.337) and operation time (p = 0.055) were not significant between the two groups. The overall effectiveness of the dressing was better in Group A than that in Group B. Only five cases in Group A had blood leakage after dressing (p = 0.006), and there was no dressing dislocation (p < 0.001) or glans color abnormality (p < 0.001). Moreover, the number of complication cases was less. The overall comfort and pain degree during dressing removal in Group A was better than that in Group B (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Postoperative dressing using 3 M antimicrobial incise drape + MEBO can achieve lower incidence rates of bleeding during dressing, postoperative glans darkening, and dressing falling off, a lower pain degree during dressing removal, and a better overall comfort level than those of the control group. This method is cost-effective and clinically safe, which contributes to the postoperative recovery of children with hypospadias and is thus worth promoting and applying.