Healing

Unlike normal skin, scar tissue doesn't contain any hair follicles. New research now indicates that when such follicles are transplanted into scar tissue, that tissue changes to become much more like uninjured skin.

A Phase 3 trial testing the world's first topical gene therapy has reported extraordinary results in children suffering from a rare blistering skin disease. The gene therapy gel was seen to completely heal wounds that had been open for years.

Chronic diabetic skin wounds are notoriously slow to heal, sometimes becoming so infected that amputations are required. A newly identified polymer could help keep that from happening, by radically boosting the healing process.

Chronic wounds such as diabetic skin ulcers can be very slow to heal, potentially leading to amputations or sometimes even death. A new bandage could speed their healing by delivering electrical stimulation, but only as needed.

Chronic skin ulcers are notoriously slow to heal, but an otherwise-wasted material may soon help change that. Scientists at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have developed a new regenerative wound dressing, and it's made from frog skin.

Mussels have long been known for the adhesive they produce, which allows them to cling to rocks. The protein responsible has now been utilized in a new skin grafting technique, which reportedly results in little to no scarring.

We've seen a number of odd merino wool products over the years, but that didn't prepare us for wool bandages. New Zealand's WoolAid says that its natural bandages are better for healing and better for the environment.

Tendon injuries are painful and don’t always heal properly. Researchers at the Terasaki Institute have now shown that silk scaffolds loaded with stem cells can help tendons regenerate more effectively.

For some time now, it's been known that the application of electricity can help heal wounds. The experimental new ePatch bandage takes that approach, plus it boosts the healing process by killing bacteria.

For some time now, blueberries have been claimed to slow the progression of memory loss. A new study now suggests that compounds found in the berries may also help heal chronic wounds such as diabetes-related skin pressure ulcers.

Complex bone fractures can be hard to treat, sometimes requiring the injured bone to be replaced with bone harvested from elsewhere in the body. Thanks to a new material, though, bone-building micro-robots may someday provide an alternative.

By stimulating cells to reproduce, electricity has already been shown to help heal soft tissue injuries. Now, an electricity-producing implantable material likewise appears to boost the regrowth of cartilage in compromised joints.