… Although it is clear too much or insufficient exudate delays healing, there is no internationally • accepted standard method for measuring the rate of exudate production nor is there an accepted ‘normal’ rate Table 4: Published exudate production rates Wound type Method of exudate production measurement Rate of exudate production 2 (g/cm /24 hours) Leg ulcers Dressing weight (Dealey et al, 2006) 0.17–0.21 Dressing weight (Thomas et al, 1996) 0.43–0.63 Various Negative pressure wound therapy canister collection (Dealey et al, 2006) 1.3* Granulating wounds Vapour pressure gradient (evaporative water loss) 0.51 (Lamke et al, 1977) Skin donor sites Vapour pressure gradient (evaporative water loss) (Lamke et al, 1977) 0.42 Partial-thickness burns Evaporimeter (Ferguson et al, 1991) 0.42¬0.86 Vapour pressure gradient (evaporative water loss) (Lamke et al, 1977) 0.43 Full-thickness burns Vapour pressure gradient (evaporative water loss) (Lamke et al, 1977) 0.34 2 *Units: ml/cm /24 hours 8 EXUDATE-RELATED Wound exudate can delay healing, severely affecting a patient’s quality of life and producing CLINICAL PROBLEMS significant socioeconomic burden when: ■ The amount of the exudate is excessive or insufficient Box 2: Wound types that may and/or produce high or low levels ■ The composition of the exudate is abnormal of exudate (Bates-Jensen & and/or Ovington, 2007; Gardner, 2012; ■ The exudate is in the wrong place (Moore & Strapp, 2015). … Cochrane Database Syst Rev 15(2): CD003861 Lund-Nielsen B, Adamsen L, Gottrup F et al (2011) Qualitative bacteriology in malignant Firat P (2018) Benign effusions. In: Davidson B, Pinar F, Michael CW (eds). … J Wound Care 24(11): 498–510 Karlakki S, Brem M, Giannini S et al (2013) Negative pressure wound therapy for management of the surgical incision in orthopaedic surgery. Bone & Joint Res 2(12): Percival SL (2017) Importance of biofilm formation in surgical infection. …