Burn wound healing: James Ellsworth Laing memorial essay for 1991.

This essay has concentrated on the basic processes, clinical techniques involved in burn wound healing and how the two relate to each other. The achievement of early, sound, durable burn wound healing is one of the fundamental aims of burn care in order to minimize subsequent morbidity and mortality. It must be remembered that all patients with burns are individuals. There is no standard way to treat a burn and treatment must be tailored to suit the needs and requirements of both the patient and the burn wound. Burn wound healing is not the specific domain of any one specialist. It requires input from all disciplines and can be best achieved by the burn team approach.