Stem Cell Skin Gun : New Technology Holds Promise for Burn Victims

Obviously, no one likes to get burned. When it happens the results can be devastating. Not only are burns very painful, they can also leave people disfigured, especially in cases of 2^nd and 3^rd degree burns. Traditional burn treatments can take several weeks or months to treat and often involve skin grafting, removing skin from another part of the body and transplanting it to the area where the burn occurred, but thanks to the scientific advancement of the stem cell skin gun, there is now another alternative.

Doctors have invented a spray gun that fires stem cells onto damaged skin. The process takes 90 minutes and sever burns can heal as fast as four days. Instead of taking grafts of skin from more inconspicuois areas of the body and piecing it together, doctors merely need a few stem cells in order to treat the burns.

While the new technology of stem cell skin guns is still very new, and has only been used on a limited number of people, the results are encouraging. Previous burn treatments have taken much longer, sometimes resulting in a patient dying of infection.

With the new process, stem cells are isolated from a healthy patch of the patients skin and put in a water solution that is sprayed onto the affected area. After treatment the area is covered with bandages that have been treated with glucose, sugar, amino acids, antibiotics, and electrolytes.

While the stem cell skin gun seems like a miracle of medicine that appears to have come out of nowhere, it is a long time coming. Back in 2009, an article was published in Expert Review of dermatology that focused on the potential of stem cells being used to help burn victims.

Initially, embryonic stem cells were seen as the preferred source of stem cells, however as the technology developed, stem cell skin guns came to us adult stem cells instead.

Of course, not every burn is destined for stem cell burn treatment. Everyday burns are still being treated by traditional methods, and first aid advice such as keeping bandages clean and dry, and applying ointment to affected areas.

Most people will never experience the type of burn that would warrant the use of the stem cell skin gun, but the technology holds a tremendous amount of promise that can do great things for burn victims all over.

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews

www.medscape.com/

www.uwhealth.org/healthfacts/