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Spray-On Skin

Introduction

Spray-On skin is relatively new skin regenerative treatment, that is still undergoing through development and FDA approval. This treatment itself was developed by Australian plastic surgeon, Fiona Wood, and scientist Marie Stoner. Other skin culturing techniques would take about three weeks to make enough skin cells that can be applied to major burn areas. However, the new spray-on skin technique has shown to reduce the overall process to about five days. Since spray-on skin, is still a new technique, it can still be improved. Professor Joerg C. Gerlach and the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine were able to come up with the skin-cell gun, which improves the overall process of this skin generative treatment. The gun works much like a spray painter.

Origins

The treatment of Spray-on skin was developed by Fiona Wood and Marie Stoner. Although the technique did not have much evidence backing up the procedure, they conducted research in order to heal victims of burn wounds after the 2002 Bali Bombings.

How It Works

Spray-On Skin calls for relatively small amount of the victim’s healthy skin cells, and those cells are then placed in an enzyme solution. Once combined, the solution is gently sprayed onto the wound area. Prior techniques, such as skin grafting, often times causes problems for patients. Skin grafting requires a large amount of healthy skin to be placed over the wound. Consequently, patients tend to need multiple visits to check up on the graft. It is also very common for patients to acquire an infection during the long healing process of the graft, which delays the healing process overall.

Advancements

After years since Spray-On skin, Professor Joerg C. Gerlach developed a gun-like device which further enhances the skin-regenerative technique. According to Gerlach, prior devices for the technique included hand-pumped atomizers, which injured the skin cells often times. The new method, calls for a small batch of the patient’s undamaged skin, where the healthy stem cells are then isolated. Then, the solution is sprayed onto the wound. The process tends to take about 90 minutes.

Results

Although many clinical trials have not been done, the technique has been successful. The healing process time of burn wounds is shorter compared to other techniques, as well as a reduction of certain complications that occur during skin grafts.

The Future

As of now, companies ,such as Avita Medical and Renova Care has commercialized the process. Although, the technique is not yet allowed in the United States, the technology is currently approved for use in Australia, Europe, Britain, Mexico, Canada and China. FDA approval trials are still in the works.