Antibacterial hydrogel: The sniper of chronic wounds

Abstract Chronic wounds are wounds that are difficult to heal or do not follow the normal healing process. These include pressure ulcers, diabetic ulcers, venous ulcers, and arterial incomplete ulcers. Unlike acute wounds, chronic wounds are often difficult to heal or even do not heal. Its pathogenesis involves many factors; bacterial infection is the main cause of chronic wound. With the increase in population aging, the incidence of chronic wounds has become a critical issue in the current medical and health field. Management of chronic wounds is faced with the problems of long treatment time, difficulty, high cost, repeated attacks and high disability rate, which seriously threaten patients' ability to take care of themselves in normal life and cause a heavy burden to individuals, families and society. Over the past few years, the development of antibacterial hydrogels for the treatment of bacterial infections has received a lot of attention. Since antibacterial hydrogels not only have the mechanical properties of hydrogels, high biocompatibility and adjustable functional structure, but also have excellent antibacterial properties, they may be an ideal dressing to solve the problem of chronic wound healing. This article introduces the types of chronic wounds, their healing characteristics, and the challenges faced in treating chronic wounds. It classifies antimicrobial hydrogels based on their antimicrobial modes and further discusses the advancements in smart antimicrobial hydrogels along with the benefits and obstacles of using antimicrobial hydrogels in the treatment of chronic wounds. This article also explores the development directions of antimicrobial hydrogels for chronic wound management.