Electric Wound Dressing Could Help Injuries Heal Faster

An electric wound dressing can help heal injuries faster than existing methods, according to tests in rats. From a report: Previous research has found that applying electric fields across a cut can speed up wound healing, but this usually requires large and specialised equipment. Because of this, Guang Yao at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Chengdu and his colleagues wanted to develop an alternative that could be applied in a similar way to traditional wound dressings. "Non-invasive, efficient, cost-effective and convenient approaches are always desired for treating skin wounds," he says. The dressing is made up of four layers. The bottom layer is made from an electrically charged plastic that produces an electric field through static contact with the skin. Next is a layer of flexible silicone rubber gel that moulds to the skin's curvature, and then a layer of shape memory alloy that pushes the two sides of the wound together. A second layer of flexible gel completes the dressing, which is just 0.2 millimetres thick in total. The team tested the wound-healing properties of the dressing on around 50 rats. They anaesthetised the rats before giving each either a 1-centimetre-long linear wound or a 0.8-centimetre-diameter circular wound and then either applying the new dressing, applying a standard dressing or leaving them to heal by themselves.

Re:Three times the same thing

[bws111]

Misleading? It says "in rats" in the very first sentence. Learn to read.

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[shaitand]

This also is the sort of thing you'd generally expect to work consistently across mammals. At the same time since it doesn't take much current to disrupt the heart and a wound presents a direct conductive conduit to it this is potentially very high liability.

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[bws111]

To have current flow you need a complete circuit. This is a static charge on the skin. Where is the current?

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[shaitand]

I haven't looked at the implementation details so maybe they are avoiding the issue but TFS at least indicated a field effect, the current would be in the circuit generating that field but if they are just building up a charge they are also building potential which could then short. It isn't about what happens when the device is working properly but what could happen in a fault scenario and this wouldn't be on 'the skin' but on a hole in the skin exposing wet internal tissue.

In practice, I'm sure they are i

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[bws111]

It doesn't say anything at all about a 'device'. It says it is a piece of plastic with a static charge. There is no 'working properly'. There is nothing to 'short' or 'fault'.

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[shaitand]

"It doesn't say anything at all about a 'device'."

Semantics. This bandage is certainly no less a device than a capacitor and a capacitor is enough of a device to kill you. Walk across a carpet in winter then touch a doorknob then tell me again that a static charge can't 'short.' That short has very little current because it takes a very high voltage to bridge the airgap. Here we have direct contact with the briny fluids of the human body. If you have one of these on a bandaged wrist and touch a ground with

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[nucrash]

Are you quick to trust state run media especially of an authoritarian government?

I for one am not.

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[couchslug]

"Thanks, msmash, for another useless boring not-a-summary that's highly misleading to boot."

Those are deliberate, long established Dicedot style.

Oh, I see

[rotorbudd]

"in rats"

Re: Oh, I see

[algaeman]

Yes, even in China, medical research is typically performed on animals before clinical trials on humans.

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[Rockoon]

Yes, even in China, medical research is typically performed on animals before clinical trials on humans.

The legal classification of Uyghurs varies depending on location. Very few have the at rats.

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[drainbramage]

My lawyer friend wants to know if it also works on snakes.

Re: Oh, I see

[anonymouscoward52236]

Yes. It does work on snakes. First you do it on mice, then the snake gets a tastey treat. I don't think the snake noticed if the mice had wounds or not.

This is a continuation of old research

[olddoc]

The story linked to this research: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]. It's from 2003. I'm actually surprised that there hasn't been more development and research in this field. There may be other benefits besides simply speed. The sooner a wound is closed the sooner the risk of infection goes down. If electric fields influence cells to migrate in to the wound it is possible it would encourage white blood cells to move in and increase the body's defense against infection.

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[shaitand]

Sorry but it isn't trolling to highlight the real and very serious ongoing issue of fake chinese research papers. They made their bed and shouldn't be exempted from the lack of credibility that comes as a consequence.

Completion of TFS

[shaitand]

To keep this from being clickbait you need the outcome.

"The circular wounds that received the electric dressing were 96.8 per cent closed after eight days, compared with between 76.4 and 79.9 per cent closed with other dressings, and 45.9 per cent closed for wounds that weren’t dressed. The straight wounds healed faster than round ones because they have less “defect tissue”, says Yao, but the relative performance was similar."

Re: Completion of TFS

[drinkypoo]

Learn how to read HTML entities, noob.

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[GoTeam]

Thanks, that's quite helpful

The Body Electric

[danda]

Dr. Becker demonstrated this in the 1980's. Bone regrowth. Healing old fractures. Stem cell generation. Even regrew a miniature rat's paw with tendons, nerves everything. Just using silver electrodes and very low voltage&current.

Then he found an electric basis for acupuncture, and immediately had his funding cut. typical.

Anyway, read his book "The Body Electric". and his other books if you get hooked.

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[iggymanz]

Pffft. Becker also believed in low frequency EM could cause ESP. His work has been solidly debunked by many studies, a couple mentioned in wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

This is nothing more than magnets on bands and 18th century "electric healing", all bullshit.

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[danda]

Believe as you wish. Yet this chinese study appears to get similar results as Becker... showing that electricity, properly applied, can stimulate healing/regeneration.

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[iggymanz]

The level of fraudulent and discredited "chinese studies" are legendary in the world.

So from a quick read,...

[SlideRuleGuy]

...this sounds more complicated than just a car battery and some jumper cables.

Oxigen does too

[thesjaakspoiler]

But you can't patent that, not putting a plastic bag over the wound and adding some oxigen to the bag.
BigPharma is still investigating whether they can patent the bag.

Red Light

[Quatermass]

I wonder if they've tried red light treatment to see if that is an cumulative effect?

When I had an injury, CBD products helped me

[ThomasCummings]

Hely. My doctor prescribed me CBD products but said I would have to choose a form based on what my body responds best to. What would you recommend trying first? I would like it to be as comfortable as possible, so vaping is not an option. I liked the gummies https://www.cornbreadhemp.com/... [cornbreadhemp.com] I think this is a good option.