Clinical and biomechanical effects of morphine on skin wound healing.

Opioids analgesics are used as premedication and in maintenance of anesthesia and in post-operative pain control. 20 female rabbits were assigned to experimental and control groups and followed for healing process for 20 days. Each rabbit was anesthetized, and a full-thickness skin incision, 3 em long, was made on its back. The wounds were closed with non-absorbable suture. Morphine and saline were administered to experimental and control groups, respectively. The rate of wound healing was similar in both groups. While tensile strength of normal intact skin was significantly (P 0.05) higher than that of both groups. it was not different between the study and control groups. Collagen content and its maturity may be responsible for the this observation.