Tilapia Skin and Other Burn Treatment Techniques

Posted January 2019 by Biodermis

One of the greatest challenges to burn management is how to treat burn patients without causing them more pain. Depending on the degree of the burn, severe pain is often associated with the onset of chemical, fire, or frost trauma. Patients with severe burns are often physically debilitated and require immediate medical attention by a physician. Patient care and medical technology are always progressing and burn treatment is no exception. If you or someone you know has endured severe burn trauma, it’s good to know what options for burn management may be presented to you in the hospital.

Continue reading to learn more about burn treatment options and what you can do to prevent excessive scarring from severe burns.

Tilapia skin for burns

The use of tilapia skin to help burn victims heal more quickly is gaining popularity among doctors in Brazil. The skin of this abundant farm fish is a low-cost and effective form of treatment that seems to be a viable alternative to more traditional methods. Before it can be used on a patient, tilapia skin must go through a sterilization process that removes germs and smells. The skin can then be applied directly to the burn site like a bandage. It helps to soothe pain and reduce healing time by several days. While tilapia skin is still in the experimental stage of medical use, doctors claim it holds high levels of moisture and type I collagen protein found in human skin. These factors facilitate the skin’s natural wound healing response, making tilapia skin attractive to patients and doctors.

Traditionally, gauze bandages and human donor skin have been used to treat burn patients. But because these options are often expensive, and sometimes unviable, tilapia skin has become a viable alternative. Hopefully, with more clinical research, tilapia skin will be used by doctors in other parts of the world.

A skin graft is a term you may have heard before but didn’t know that it was a commonly-used treatment for burn patients. During a skin graft, a doctor will extract a thin layer of skin from another part of the patient’s body and place it over the burn site. The layer of skin will be situated on the burn with surgical staples or stitches to hold it in place. During the entire skin graft process, the patient will be under anesthesia so he or she won’t feel any pain. After several days, the skin graft will begin to form new skin over the wound site. The downfall with skin grafts is that, the larger the burn area, the larger the portion of healthy skin must be extracted from the patient. If the burn area is too great a size, there won’t be enough healthy skin left to form a complete graft.