Introduction: There are several dressings for burns. Silver sulfadiazine has been used for years but microporous membranes are increasingly preferred.

Objectives: To compare the efficiency of microporous membrane (Telfa Clear®) versus silver sulfadiazine (Platsul®) in children younger than 15 years old hospitalized for burns.

Patients and Methodology: Retrospective cohort study of 87 patients, divided into 2 comparable groups in extent and depth of the burn, age and sex. During January to December 2007, in 52 patients Platsul® were use and in 35 patients Telfa Clear® were use from January to October 2008. The time and extent of re-epithelialization, percentage of grafts, costs, length of stay, number of dressing change, complications, storage-stability and costs are evaluated. Non-parametric statistics were used for univariate analysis and logistic regression for multivariate analysis en Stata 11.2.

Results: Platsul® was associate to a later graft and had a greater number of dressing changes. Platsul® is worst rated for its storage-stability and higher costs. No difference in infection rate was observed.

Conclusions: Both techniques are efficient in allowing re-epithelialization, but burns treated with Platsul® were grafted later than when Telfa Clear® was used. Telfa Clear® is best evaluated by the health team in terms of storage and stability. The cost of Telfa Clear® is presented as an advantage.