Topical Phenytoin-Loaded Hydrogel Dressing for Postoperative Wound Management After Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Resection

Eligible participants had histopathologically confirmed, locally advanced oral squamouscell carcinoma and were scheduled for primary surgical resection with cervical neckdissection and reconstruction at the Oncology Center, Mansoura University. Afterenrollment, participants were randomly allocated to two groups. The control groupreceived conventional postoperative wound care. The experimental group received the sameconventional postoperative care plus a topical phenytoin‐loaded poloxamer hydrogelapplied twice daily for seven consecutive postoperative days, beginning immediately aftersurgery. Postoperative assessments included wound healing, complication severity, oralmucositis, pain, and hospital length of stay. The manuscript reports blindedpostoperative outcome assessment, while patients and operating surgeons were not blinded.