Wounds are unsightly features that can cause pain and prevent you from enjoying a quality life. Patients with chronic wounds can have low self-esteem due to their slow-healing condition that interferes with their overall skin appearance. Fortunately, there is a way to treat chronic wounds using bioengineered skin grafts. This treatment option helps patients who do not have enough skin to graft their wound. For example, burn victims have severe damage to their skin and cannot treat their condition with regular grafts. There is no doubt that bio-engineered skin grafts San Antonio are the future of wound healing due to their speedy recovery, lower infection risk, and better aesthetic results.
What is bioengineered skin?
Although bioengineered skin comes about from artificial means, it consists of all the necessary skin layers found naturally, for example, the epidermis and dermis. However, the layers are onto a support structure called an acellular matrix.
The biological skin substitute can develop from growing a patient’s cells. Alternatively, allogenic sources can also work in creating artificial skin. Most times, specialists harvest neonatal foreskin during the bioengineering process because:
- Convenience: When babies undergo circumcision, specialists leverage the cut skin to bioengineer skin grafts.
- High metabolic activity: For this reason, the skin cells multiply.
- It is rare for the cells to undergo allergic reactions.
- Keratinocyte cells are in significant amounts.
How do bioengineered skin grafts work?
After undergoing an injury, the skin needs time to recover. Patients with extreme burns do not have the option of donating skin from other parts to create grafts. For this reason, bioengineered skin grafts are temporary substitutes for the epidermis and dermis until the patient’s skin barrier recovers completely.
Bioengineered skin consists of live cells whose introduction to a chronic wound accelerates healing. Bioengineered skin creates a moist environment and provides structural support that maintains the integrity of the skin. Moreover, these artificial substitutes include cytokines and growth factors that promote tissue regeneration.
What are the key features of a biosynthetic skin substitute?
The only challenge facing the practicality of bioengineered skin compared to natural skin grafts is artificial. However, some features improve the quality and efficacy of these artificial substitutes. For example:
- Affordability of materials can enhance the scalability of bioengineered skin grafts and thus help many patients improve their conditions.
- Non-antigenic- The host’s immune system should not flag the material as foreign lest it undergoes rejection through an allergic reaction.
- Impermeability to bacteria: Although harmful material should not enter, the biosynthetic material should allow water vapor transmission.
Are you a candidate for bioengineered skin grafts?
Some skin functions that can improve after bioengineering artificial skin substitutes include:
- Ulcers
- Burns
- Systemic sclerosis
- Breast augmentation
- Skin cancer excision treatment
Although bioengineered skin grafts effectively promote wound healing, technological advancements are necessary to improve treatment results. Further research can help address controversies concerning the treatment and promote awareness of its efficacy. Contact Wound Evolution if you have questions about bioengineered skin grafts and find out if it is an ideal treatment option for your skin concern.
