Both copper and silver oxidize unpleasantly very quickly, though.
In my experience, while while the wound is open, this was the only cream that had no skin reactions, and that made it far easier keep it on 24/7. The cream kept air out, greatly reduced pain. Eliminating infection allowed more rapid healing.
I don't know whether it's prescribed today, but it was the only cream that was effective at both reducing pain, and speeding healing.
[1] Genetics and apparently bad grooming habits for the win! [2] A smashing success for ten years and counting. About 1/8 of each side grew back but it's not physically possible for me to get ingrown toenails unless I intentionally try to induce them.
http://www.burnsjournal.com/article/S0305-4179(16)30056-0/fu...
Conclusions the first link: "silver sulphadiazine (SSD) was consistently associated with poorer healing outcomes than biosynthetic (skin substitute) dressings, silver-containing dressings and silicon-coated dressings".
Results in the second link: "Many dressings showed superior healing properties compared to SSD, but no dressing was able to show a clear benefit over SSD regarding infection. The number of dressing changes, pain and patient's satisfaction are more favourable in the newer dressings, especially with solid and biological dressings."
These were certainly the critical factors for me -- reducing pain made it easier to keep applied. Reducing number of changes is icing on the cake.
For deep burns, debriding the wound is an extremely painful process. If the biosynthetic or silica materials reduce that, it'd be a huge advantage.
That's an old document, and I'd be interested if there's anything newer.