It has long been discovered by scientists that electricity can come in handy for speeding up the healing process for skin wounds. However, it usually requires patients to be linked up to electrotherapy machines. This limits their mobility during treatment and also costs more. Researchers have been working on alternatives and have now claimed to have developed self-powered electric bandages that can speed up healing times for wounds.
The bandages have been developed by researchers in the United States and China. They’re said to be as easy to wear as a normal bandage. They have small electrodes that are powered by nanogenerators wrapped around the user’s torso. They just have to breathe as the movement of the ribcage during breathing activates the nanogenerators which send low-intensity pulses to the wound area.
The scientists say that this increases the viability of fibroblasts, which is a type of skin cell, and effectively pushes them to line up. That’s an important part in speeding up the healing process. The pulses also result in increased biochemical materials which aid tissue growth.
Lab tests on rodents show that the wounds which require almost two weeks to heal with a normal bandage were completely healed in just three days. Human trials have not yet begun but the scientists hope that this technology will deliver similar results there as well.
Filed in .. Source: engadget