The study of nonoperative debridement of burns got underway during the Second World War. A large number of substances such as enzymes of plant origin, acids and proteolytic enzymes of bacterial origin were examined since. The proteolytic enzymes derived from filtrates of C. histolyticum and B. subtilis have attracted the greatest interest. Although enzymatic debridement would seem at first sight to be an attractive form of treatment, unfortunately the results are highly variable.