Negative wound dressing, also known as Vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) dressings, have become a staple for most plastic surgeons when managing difficult wounds. But nowadays, the scope of VAC dressings has broadened and includes burn wounds, open fracture wounds, radiation wounds, post-surgical wounds, abdominal wounds and post-traumatic complex wounds. This review discusses the mechanism of action of VAC, applications, pros and cons of this technique and finally, the future directions and research that must be done to refine this technique.