Silver sulfadiazine is a topical

Topical

In medicine, a topical medication is applied to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes such as the vagina, anus, throat, eyes and ears.Many topical medications are epicutaneous, meaning that they are applied directly to the skin...

 sulfonamide

Sulfonamide (medicine)

Sulfonamide or sulphonamide is the basis of several groups of drugs. The original antibacterial sulfonamides are synthetic antimicrobial agents that contain the sulfonamide group. Some sulfonamides are also devoid of antibacterial activity, e.g., the anticonvulsant sultiame...

/silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

 antibacterial used as a topical burn cream on burn

Burn

A burn is an injury to flesh caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation, or friction.Burn may also refer to:*Combustion*Burn , type of watercourses so named in Scotland and north-eastern England...

s, including chemical burn

Chemical burn

A chemical burn occurs when living tissue is exposed to a corrosive substance such as a strong acid or base. Chemical burns follow standard burn classification and may cause extensive tissue damage. The main types of irritant and/or corrosive products are: acids, bases, oxidizers, solvents,...

s. It prevents the growth of a wide array of bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

, as well as yeast

Yeast

Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...

, on the damaged skin.

Silver sulfadiazine is typically delivered in a 1% cream

Cream (pharmaceutical)

A cream is a topical preparation usually for application to the skin. Creams for application to mucus membranes such as those of the rectum or vagina are also used. Creams may be considered pharmaceutical products as even cosmetic creams are based on techniques developed by pharmacy and...

 or aqueous suspension

Suspension (chemistry)

In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous fluid containing solid particles that are sufficiently large for sedimentation. Usually they must be larger than 1 micrometer. The internal phase is dispersed throughout the external phase through mechanical agitation, with the use of certain...

. Brand names include Sliverex, Silvadene (a genericized trademark

Genericized trademark

A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...

), Silvazine, Flamazine, Thermazene, and SSD.

Studies have found that silver sulfadiazine increases healing times; and it is therefore not recommended by the authors of a Cochrane review.

Side effects

An aseptic exudate

Exudate

An exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation. It can apply to plants as well as animals. Its composition varies but generally includes water and the dissolved solutes of the main circulatory fluid such as sap or blood...

 (a clear fluid) may form on the wound's surface. Burning and painful sensations are not uncommon but only temporary.

About 0.1 to 1% of patients show hypersensitivity

Hypersensitivity

Hypersensitivity refers to undesirable reactions produced by the normal immune system, including allergies and autoimmunity. These reactions may be damaging, uncomfortable, or occasionally fatal. Hypersensitivity reactions require a pre-sensitized state of the host. The four-group classification...

 reactions like rashes or erythema multiforme

Erythema multiforme

Erythema multiforme is a skin condition of unknown cause, possibly mediated by deposition of immune complex in the superficial microvasculature of the skin and oral mucous membrane that usually follows an infection or drug exposure...

. This is a reaction known from other sulfonamides including antibacterials, thiazide

Thiazide

Thiazide is a term used to describe a type of molecule and a class of diuretics often used to treat hypertension and edema ....

 diuretics, and sulfonylurea

Sulfonylurea

Sulfonylurea derivatives are a class of antidiabetic drugs that are used in the management of diabetes mellitus type 2. They act by increasing insulin release from the beta cells in the pancreas.-First generation:* Carbutamide...

 antidiabetics; but data on the likelihood of cross-allergies are inconsistent.

Incorporation of the silver ion

Ion

An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...

s can lead to local argyria

Argyria

Argyria is a condition caused by improper exposure to chemical forms of the element silver, silver dust, or silver compounds. The most dramatic symptom of argyria is that the skin becomes blue or bluish-grey colored. Argyria may be found as generalized argyria or local argyria...

 (discoloration of the skin), especially if the treated area is exposed to ultraviolet

Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...

. Generalised argyria with silver accumulation in kidneys, liver and retina

Retina

The vertebrate retina is a light-sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. Light striking the retina initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical...

 has only been found in association with excessive long-term use, or repeated use on severe and heavily inflamed burns. Possible consequences of generalised argyria include interstitial nephritis

Interstitial nephritis

Interstitial nephritis is a form of nephritis affecting the interstitium of the kidneys surrounding the tubules...

 and anemia

Anemia

Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...

.

Pharmacokinetics

The chemical itself is poorly soluble, and has only very limited penetration through the skin. Only when applied to large area burns or other lesions is absorption into the body a problem.

Interactions

Protease

Protease

A protease is any enzyme that conducts proteolysis, that is, begins protein catabolism by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds that link amino acids together in the polypeptide chain forming the protein....

s like trypsin

Trypsin

Trypsin is a serine protease found in the digestive system of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins. Trypsin is produced in the pancreas as the inactive proenzyme trypsinogen. Trypsin cleaves peptide chains mainly at the carboxyl side of the amino acids lysine or arginine, except when...

 and clostridiopeptidase, which are contained in ointments used for the removal of dead skin on wounds, can be inhibited by silver ions if applied simultaneously. When silver sulfadiazine is absorbed in significant amounts, it can increase effects and side effects of some drugs like vitamin K antagonist

Vitamin K antagonist

Vitamin K antagonists are a class of anticoagulants. They reduce blood clotting by inhibiting the recycling of vitamin K epoxide back to the active reduced form of vitamin K. The term Vitamin K antagonists is a misnomer. These drugs do NOT antagonize the action of Vitamin K...

.

Legal status

Certain brand names, such as Silvadene, are still listed as prescription only by the FDA, yet the active ingredient itself can be sold OTC. CVS, as well as many other pharmacies, only sell the prescription form despite the availability of an OTC equivalent.