The days of ripping off a Band-Aid could soon be in the past, with scientists creating a new affordable, flexible electronic covering that not only speeds and wirelessly monitors healing but performs a disappearing act by being harmlessly absorbed into the body when its job is done.
“Although it’s an electronic device, the active components that interface with the wound bed are entirely resorbable,” said Northwestern University’s John A. Rogers, who co-led the study.
This dressing is the first bioresorbable bandage of its kind, delivering electrotherapy to wounds to accelerate healing by up to 30 per cent, and relaying data on the injured site’s condition to allow monitor of it from afar.
“Otherwise, an open wound is susceptible to infection. And, for people with diabetes, infections are even harder to treat and more dangerous.
For these patients, there is a major unmet need for cost-effective solutions that really work for them. Our new bandage is cost-effective, easy to apply, adaptable, comfortable and efficient at closing wounds to prevent infections and further complications.”
If the current measurement remained high, this could alert the patient’s physician to the fact the wound wasn’t healing accordingly and intervene.
When the wound has sufficiently healed, the flower-shaped electrode sitting on the sensitive site dissolves and is absorbed, causing no distress to the skin.
“We are the first to show that molybdenum can be used as a biodegradable electrode for wound healing,” Ameer said.