BurnsBurns are injuries that result in severe skin damage and the cells in the area that is burnt will die due to the big impact. The severity of a burn is ranked according to the symptoms and how damaged the skin is.
First-degree
Second-degree
Third-degree (too gruesome to show)
How burns can affect victims in the long run?
Third-degree burns can cause a bacterial infection called Tetanus. It causes impact to the the nervous system, which then can result in muscle contractions in the future.
After the healing of the skin of a burnt victim, they tend to be left with a keloid. A keloid can be undesirable to the victim because it has a rough and bumpy appearance, not only that, it requires more attention and care because the scar can become worst in appearance because of the sun's harmful radiation. The transformation of a boy using spray-on skin.
What a skin graft looks like after it is healed.
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A little bit about Professor Fiona Wood...Fiona Wood
How does spray-on skin work?Spray-on skin was an invention that Fiona Wood and Marie Stoner, her co-researcher/scientist, created to improve the life of burnt victims. The idea of this revolutionary treatment is that basal stem cells and melanocytes, which produce the skin's texture and its colour. To give the cells their structure, enzymes are taken from pigs specifically for medical purposes and dissolved with trypsin. This mixture is then sprayed on the area where the victim is burnt. The healing process is occur when the stem cells and melanocytes divide and expand; this means that the skin can heal in about a week. Along with the amazing speed of the spray-on process, the skin looks healthy and better looking than skin grafts.
Spray-on skin has many benefits compared to skin grafts. Skin grafts have the chance of being rejected by the host's body because the skin does not belong to them; a rejection can cause severe harm to the patient. Skin grafts can be more painful because the victim would have to take healthy skin from another part of their body, while spray-on skin does not affect other healthy skin. Skin grafts usually end up with a displeasing scar but spray-on skin looks better in appearance when it is fully healed. The main thing about burns are that you want the wound to close up fast so that the chance of getting a bacterial infection would be less. Skin grafts take about 21 days to heal while spray-on skin can take about a week so spray-on skin treatment can minimise many risks. |
Treatment for the Bali Bombing Victim
The treatment used for the Bali Bombing victims in 2002 was actually the spray-on skin that Fiona Wood and Marie Stoner created. Fiona said that the victims of this incident helped make her strive further into her research of burns and how to help patients have a scarless healing mentally and physically.