A new artificial skin is being trialed that could help burns victims heal faster and cleaner.
A team of burns experts from the University of Sydney and Concord Hospital has developed an artificial scaffold where a patient’s living skin cells can be implanted and cultivated to grow into a functioning skin layer.
While current skin graft technology is able to transplant only the top 1 millimetre of skin, the lab-created specimen includes the 1.5 centimetre-thick sub-layer of skin called the dermis, which is responsible for healing, elasticity and temperature regulation.
With a lack of donors being one of the major problems facing burns patients in need of a transplant, readily available artificial skin technology could help speed up the current waiting time for treatment and reduce skin tightening that can occur when scars form.
Early trials on mice have found the skin leaves little scarring and does not contract when transplanted.
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