Treatment of scleroderma skin ulcers with a hydrocolloid membrane.

The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of hydrocolloid membrane dressings in the treatment of finger and hand ulcers of scleroderma (progressive systemic sclerosis). Ten pairs of ulcers occurring in seven patients were studied. The ulcers in each patient were treated in a paired comparison trial: one ulcer in each pair was treated with a hydrocolloid membrane; the other was a control. Treatment was continued until at least one ulcer of each pair was healed. The rate of healing of the hydrocolloid membrane-treated ulcers was significantly faster than that of the control ulcers. Pain was rapidly and dramatically reduced in all hydrocolloid membrane-treated ulcers. An infection caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa occurred in a hydrocolloid membrane-treated ulcer but rapidly responded to topical therapy. Hydrocolloid membrane treatment of sclerodermatous hand ulcers appears to be an effective method of accelerating healing and reducing pain.