New Wound Dressing Enables Faster Healing

Ordinarily, common wounds are no cause for concern and only require basic first aid, which includes proper cleaning and use of wound dressing. Wound dressings are an integral part of wound management and with the new advanced dressings like Duoderm and Tegaderm, wound care has significantly improved. There are many types of dressings including, gauze, tulle, foam, hydrogel, hydrocolloids, hydrofiber etc. Wound dressings serve several purposes including sealing the wound to promote the clotting process, absorb the fluids discharging from the wound, clearing the wound bed of foreign particles including slough, prevent infection, promote granulation and relieving discomfort.

Recently, Israeli scientists have developed a new wound dressing which is made of human collagen and will promote quick healing.

Collagen is a type of protein that naturally occurs in the body and it helps to support the tissues in skin, tendons, bones, muscles and cartilage. A significant part of proteins in the body comprise of collagen. Although, it is a protein but functions differently as it can be found outside as well as inside the cells. Among the 29 types of collagen identified so far, type 1, 2, 3 and 4 are most abundantly found in the body.

Due to the importance of collagen in wound healing, many wound care products have been developed by incorporating collagen. Until recently, all of the collagen based wound care products used animal tissues, which required special treatment to prevent rejection from the body's immune system. When collagen dressing is applied on the wound, it creates a moist healing environment, which promotes growth of new tissues in the wound. It plays an important part in the wound healing process erpecially in the initial stages by stopping the bleeding. Collagen based dressings are used in various conditions including chronic wounds, diabetic ulcers, burns, venous ulcers and pressure ulcers. There are several benefits of using collagen dressings such as stopping the bleeding, absorbing exudates, works in all stages of the wound healing process, creating a moist healing environment, does not stick to new tissues, does not need to be frequently changed and is easy to use.

A new wound dressing has been developed recently that uses genetically engineered human collagen. Great thing about this material is that it becomes biodegradable molecule in the tissues of the wounded area. An outer layer in the dressing provides protection to the wound, while the inner layer helps with the healing process. This dressing stimulates the production of fibroblast, which are instrumental in the creation of collagen in the body.