Abstract
Numerous topical wound medicants are available today. Very few of these products have been tested in horses. Due to the unique nature of wound healing in the distal limbs of horses (carpus, tarsus and distad), many of these medicants seen in different animals but not been reproduced in equine limb wounds. The present investigation aimed to determine if application of Moist exposed Burn ointment (MEBO) dressing would improve measures of wound healing compared with a non‐adherent, semi-occlusive dressing applied to wounds created on the distal aspect of the equine limb. The study was performed on five clinically healthy non castrated horses weighing, 380–500 kg and aged from 14 -–17 years. A 6.25 cm2 wound was created on the dorsomedial aspect of the proximal metacarpus on each forelimb. A MEBO dressing was applied to one limb as a treatment and a non‐adherent, semi-occlusive dressing was applied to the contralateral limb as a control. Bandages were changed every 3 days for 39 days. Granulation tissue was scored and wound area measured every 3 days. The result of this study revealed that MEBO treatment accelerated wound healing in each horse and complete closure was achieved on average 9.4 ± 1.7 days sooner than in control wounds (p < 0.01). In addition, MEBO wound dressing did not increase granulation relative to control at any time point. It was concluded that MEBO wound dressing improved some measures of wound healing compared with the control dressing most significantly during the first 30 days. This suggests that MEBO wound dressing may be useful in the early management of wounds on the equine lower limb.