JL Tip | Particularly for certain kinds of wounds, the promise of a portable electric stimulation device could be a powerful tool?
In 2020, the seemingly age-old flimsy bit of adhesive and cotton, found in every medicine drawer, better known as ?Band-Aid? turned 100 years old. Putting into perspective, even in 1920 almost the same looking adhesive bandages were used in every corner of the society as the prime agent of first-aid.
Nevertheless, even simple things as such cannot resist innovation forever. Scientists and medical practitioners across the globe, for a while have been vying for the next step of improvements in the bandage technology. Yes, it has been a long-time study to come up with a forward-looking technology in this aspect.
In one of the researches not so long ago, the world got a glimpse of what the futuristic bandage might look like. In this research, the scientists demonstrated how the electric fields can be utilized to simplify faster wound regeneration and healing, in this study on rats.
For decades enough, electric stimulations have known to be a by far effective tool for facilitating skin wound recovery. Although, the practical implementations of these stimulations are still largely limited by the incompetent electrical systems. The innovation of this new research is based on an efficient electrical bandage for accelerated skin wound healing.
By large, the electric stimulation for healing of the wound had been delayed till now, because it relied on the bulk machineries to generate electric current. And this needed the patients to go through the long sessions, that almost touched 8 hours in some cases, and that too with the patient need to be typically sleeping.
This experimental bandage is bang opposite to this, as it is not just flexible, but lightweight as well. The most revolutionary aspect is that it is self-powered by using the movements of the human body, similarly on the lines of some of the self-winding mechanised watches that function today.
The scientists have developed this jaw-inspiring wearable bandage device that can significantly ease the wound recovery. This device is completely self-powered and self-sustainable, without any need of battery or any electrical circuit. However, it functions on converting the small mechanical displacement of the skin surface, which then converts it into electric pulses, and these electric pulses are used to ease the recovery at will.
This electric bandage consists of a copper band containing electrodes and a nanogenerator. When attached to the skin, its electric current imitates the patterns of the body?s natural endogenous electric field that causes the skin regrowth. These electric fields specifically cause proliferation of cells called as fibroblasts, which eventually makes the collagen of cells and guide the skin regeneration.
These electric systems are thus turned into wearable small device that humans can wear every day, just like a regular type of bandage, which is portable, affordable and disposable.
To calculate its effectiveness, the researchers tested for two deeper wounds of same depth on two rats, one with their experimental bandage with an electric field, and the other with just a normal dressing that was without the electric field.
It was found that even on the serious wounds which were deep enough, the rats that received those electric current in fact healed significantly faster to the one that did not receive the current. It took just 3 days to close the cuts of the wound that were forced with electric field currents, whereas, the run-of-the-mill process took a good 12 days.
Based on these promising results of the experiment, it can be believed that the combination of electric stimulation, along with the portability provided by nanogenerators, could finally create a technology that has so far been difficult to scale up because of the technical limitations.
The potential of this self-powered electric-dressing treatment could in fact lead to an exciting therapeutic strategy for nonhealing skin wound treatment.
Although, this promise of a portable electric stimulation device for certain kinds of wounds could become a gigantic tool, yet, simple wounds will in all likelihood heal over time due to natural process of the body.
JL Tip | Particularly for certain kinds of wounds, the promise of a portable electric stimulation device could be a powerful tool?
In 2020, the seemingly age-old flimsy bit of adhesive and cotton, found in every medicine drawer, better known as ?Band-Aid? turned 100 years old. Putting into perspective, even in 1920 almost the same looking adhesive bandages were used in every corner of the society as the prime agent of first-aid.
Nevertheless, even simple things as such cannot resist innovation forever. Scientists and medical practitioners across the globe, for a while have been vying for the next step of improvements in the bandage technology. Yes, it has been a long-time study to come up with a forward-looking technology in this aspect.
In one of the researches not so long ago, the world got a glimpse of what the futuristic bandage might look like. In this research, the scientists demonstrated how the electric fields can be utilized to simplify faster wound regeneration and healing, in this study on rats.
For decades enough, electric stimulations have known to be a by far effective tool for facilitating skin wound recovery. Although, the practical implementations of these stimulations are still largely limited by the incompetent electrical systems. The innovation of this new research is based on an efficient electrical bandage for accelerated skin wound healing.
By large, the electric stimulation for healing of the wound had been delayed till now, because it relied on the bulk machineries to generate electric current. And this needed the patients to go through the long sessions, that almost touched 8 hours in some cases, and that too with the patient need to be typically sleeping.
This experimental bandage is bang opposite to this, as it is not just flexible, but lightweight as well. The most revolutionary aspect is that it is self-powered by using the movements of the human body, similarly on the lines of some of the self-winding mechanised watches that function today.
The scientists have developed this jaw-inspiring wearable bandage device that can significantly ease the wound recovery. This device is completely self-powered and self-sustainable, without any need of battery or any electrical circuit. However, it functions on converting the small mechanical displacement of the skin surface, which then converts it into electric pulses, and these electric pulses are used to ease the recovery at will.
This electric bandage consists of a copper band containing electrodes and a nanogenerator. When attached to the skin, its electric current imitates the patterns of the body?s natural endogenous electric field that causes the skin regrowth. These electric fields specifically cause proliferation of cells called as fibroblasts, which eventually makes the collagen of cells and guide the skin regeneration.
These electric systems are thus turned into wearable small device that humans can wear every day, just like a regular type of bandage, which is portable, affordable and disposable.
To calculate its effectiveness, the researchers tested for two deeper wounds of same depth on two rats, one with their experimental bandage with an electric field, and the other with just a normal dressing that was without the electric field.
It was found that even on the serious wounds which were deep enough, the rats that received those electric current in fact healed significantly faster to the one that did not receive the current. It took just 3 days to close the cuts of the wound that were forced with electric field currents, whereas, the run-of-the-mill process took a good 12 days.
Based on these promising results of the experiment, it can be believed that the combination of electric stimulation, along with the portability provided by nanogenerators, could finally create a technology that has so far been difficult to scale up because of the technical limitations.
The potential of this self-powered electric-dressing treatment could in fact lead to an exciting therapeutic strategy for nonhealing skin wound treatment.
Although, this promise of a portable electric stimulation device for certain kinds of wounds could become a gigantic tool, yet, simple wounds will in all likelihood heal over time due to natural process of the body.
