Silver Sulfadiazine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Silver Sulfadiazine is a sulfonamide antibacterial sold in the U.S. under 5 brand and generic names, for wound infection. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Sulfonamide Antibacterial
- Treats (across its forms)
- Wound Infection
- Available as
- Dressing · Topical
- Sold as
- 5 products — Sildaflo, Silvadene and Ssd, and others
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $0.25 per gm — not your price
How Silvadene is dosed
From the FDA label for Silvadene (application NDA017381). Other silver sulfadiazine products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Prompt institution of appropriate regimens for care of the burned patient is of prime importance and includes the control of shock and pain. The burn wounds are then cleansed and debrided, and SILVADENE Cream 1% (silver sulfadiazine) is applied under sterile conditions. The burn areas should be covered with SILVADENE Cream 1% at all times. The cream should be applied once to twice daily to a thickness of approximately 1/16 inch. Whenever necessary, the cream should be reapplied to any areas from which it has been removed by patient activity. Administration may be accomplished in minimal time because dressings are not required. However, if individual patient requirements make dressings necessary, they may be used. Reapply immediately after hydrotherapy. Treatment with SILVADENE Cream 1% should be continued until satisfactory healing has occurred, or until the burn site is ready for grafting. The drug should not be withdrawn from the therapeutic regimen while there remains the possibility of infection except if a significant adverse reaction occurs.
Everything below is the FDA label for Silvadene (topical). Silver Sulfadiazine is also sold as dressing, and those are different medicines to take — follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Silvadene side effects
Several cases of transient leukopenia have been reported in patients receiving silver sulfadiazine therapy. 1,2,3 Leukopenia associated with silver sulfadiazine administration is primarily characterized by decreased neutrophil count. Maximal white blood cell depression occurs within 2 to 4 days of initiation of therapy. Rebound to normal leukocyte levels follows onset within 2 to 3 days. Recovery is not influenced by continuation of silver sulfadiazine therapy. An increased incidence of leukopenia has been reported in patients treated concurrently with cimetidine. Other infrequently occurring events include skin necrosis, erythema multiforme, skin discoloration, burning sensation, rashes, and interstitial nephritis. Reduction in bacterial growth after application of topical antibacterial agents has been reported to permit spontaneous healing of deep partial-thickness burns by preventing conversion of the partial thickness to full thickness by sepsis. However, reduction in bacterial colonization has caused delayed separation, in some cases necessitating escharotomy in order to prevent contracture.
Who shouldn’t take Silvadene
Cream 1% (silver sulfadiazine) is contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to silver sulfadiazine or any of the other ingredients in the preparation. Because sulfonamide therapy is known to increase the possibility of kernicterus, SILVADENE Cream 1% should not be used on pregnant women approaching or at term, on premature infants, or on newborn infants during the first 2 months of life.
Every silver sulfadiazine product we track (5)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
| # | Drug | Rating | Type | Form | Generic? | Pharmacy pays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Dressing | Generic | $0 | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Topical | Generic | $0 | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Topical | Generic | $0 | View → | |
| 4 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Topical | Generic | $0 | View → | |
| 5 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Topical | Generic | $0 | View → |
How long silver sulfadiazine keeps
No silver sulfadiazine label we read sets a separate limit for after opening, but they do specify how it must be stored — and the stability behind any date assumes those conditions.
Does silver sulfadiazine expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsWhat people report to the FDA about silver sulfadiazine
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 1,413 reports naming silver sulfadiazine, and the FDA flagged 67% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- chronic kidney disease85 reports
- fatigue82 reports
- diarrhoea68 reports
- nausea67 reports
- acute kidney injury66 reports
- anxiety61 reports
- pneumonia61 reports
- rash61 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean silver sulfadiazine caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 26, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is Silvadene?
Silvadene (Silver Sulfadiazine) is a sulfonamide antibacterial used to treat Wound Infection.
What kind of drug is silver sulfadiazine?
The FDA classifies silver sulfadiazine as a sulfonamide antibacterial. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take silver sulfadiazine with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run silver sulfadiazine against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What brand names is silver sulfadiazine sold under?
We track 5 silver sulfadiazine-containing products in the U.S.: Sildaflo, Silvadene, Ssd, Ssd Af and Thermazene. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does silver sulfadiazine come in?
Across the brands we track, silver sulfadiazine is currently marketed as dressing and topical, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic silver sulfadiazine?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled silver sulfadiazine product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Silver Sulfadiazine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/silver-sulfadiazine
- MLA
- “Silver Sulfadiazine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/silver-sulfadiazine.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for silver sulfadiazine on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.