Fiber optic dressing lets you know how well a wound is healing

Have you ever gotten a cut, bandaged it and wondered how the healing process is coming along? Save for actually removing the dressing, there is now a high-tech way of checking on the healing progress of your wound which can be accomplished through the use of fiber optics.

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A team of Swiss researchers from the Technology in Textiles project are reportedly working on a new type of wound dressing, which they claim can monitor the state of a wound through the use of fiber optic threads that have been woven into the dressing. The fibers have been designed in such a way that they change color in response to changes in the acidity of the wound, which is an indicator of its healing status.

With this advancement in technology, it is hoped that this would reduce, or possibly even replace the need for swabs and laboratory testing. As it stands, the team is currently working on calibrating the light signal through a range of acidity levels and hopes that this will provide a powerful new resource for the treatment of wounds such as diabetic, pressure and venous leg ulcers in the future, which tend to prove rather difficult during the healing process.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Medical