Smart bandage

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.

While antibiotics are very effective at treating infected wounds, they should definitely be used sparingly. An experimental new bandage was designed with this fact in mind, as it only dispenses medication when it detects the heat of an infection.

When removing the dressing to check on a chronic wound, you ironically often set back the healing process. A new type of "smart bandage" was designed with this problem in mind, as it transmits wound data to an app on a clinician's mobile device.

Bandaged wounds need to be checked for infection, yet removing the bandage to check the wound can delay its healing. Australian scientists may have a fix for this paradox, in the form of a dressing that glows if the wound is infected.

During surgery or traumatic injury, quickly stopping bleeding saves lives. Now, scientists have recruited an unlikely ally to that cause – snake venom, which forms the basis of a new “super glue” that halts bleeding in seconds after light activation.

While it's important to check wounds for infections, removing the dressing in order to do so can be disruptive to the healing process. A new smart bandage could help, by "glowing" in a certain way if an infection is beginning.

Chronic skin wounds such as pressure ulcers can become very serious if left untreated, potentially even leading to amputations. A new "smart" bandage could help, by changing color before such wounds occur in the first place.

Wired devices called oximeters are the gold standard when it comes to monitoring oxygenation in transplanted tissue, but scientists may have found a better way forward in the form of a paint-on bandage that glows instead.

Researchers in India have taken an impressive step forward with efforts to tackle cancer using magnetic nanoparticles, working the technology into a bandage that proved capable of killing skin cancer cells in experiments on mice.

Ripping Band-Aids off your skin is never fun – but imagine having one on your heart or lung. Researchers have now created surgical tape that can stick to wet surfaces like organs, and more importantly, be removed safely when it’s no longer needed.

If someone is suffering from a chronic wound, it's important for their doctor to continuously know the status of that injury. A new bandage is designed to keep physicians in the loop, via everyone's favorite wonder material – graphene.

The treatment of chronic wounds often involves the application of different medications, at different stages in the healing process. A new electronic bandage could allow this to happen, but without having to be removed for each application.