Burns are one of the most devastating injuries that a person can suffer. Not only is a burn incredibly painful, it can permanently disfigure the victim and affect all aspects of their life.
Treating skin burns is difficult because of the potential for infections and the pain suffered by the patient. Serious burns are often treated with skin grafts and multiple surgeries. It is a very painful process that can go on for months.
As Dr. David N. Herndon of the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston explains, “A second-degree burn traditionally has had to be washed twice a day and topical anti-microbial placed upon it — a very painful process for the patient, a very painful process for the person helping the patient to wash and apply those substances.”
Researchers around the world have been investigating the possibility that stem cells can be used to treat burns and regenerate skin. A company named RenovaCare has even developed multiple products to treat burns with stem cells — CellMist™ and the SkinGun™.
These stem cell technologies are designed to speed up the healing process. They work by taking a small sample of the patient’s skin then extracting the stem cells that it contains. Those stem cells are then sprayed onto the burn site and immediately begin to repair the injury.
The CEO of RenovaCare, Thomas Bold, describes the advantage of these kinds of devices, saying: “Normally, a wound heals from the edges to the middle, and the larger the wound and the longer the process takes, the higher is the risk for inflammation and scarring,” he continued: “What we are doing with our system, we are placing thousands and thousands of little regenerative islands throughout the wound. Those islands, those stem cells, connect to each other and close the wound really faster.”
These kinds of innovative stem cell products have the capacity to greatly improve outcomes for burn patients.
Source: Revolutionary burn treatment uses stem cell spray
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