Steuben Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing on Silk Wound Dressing that Can Eliminate Scarring

A serious wound or burn is going to leave a scar. That’s been a fact of life.

However, that could be changing, as researchers in China are finding that a wound dressing made from the silk protein sericin can help skin recover fully and leave no scar tissue.

This is encouraging news for seniors who have trouble healing when they suffer wounds, leaving them with potentially painful scars.

“Most of the currently available wound dressings are ineffective in achieving skin regeneration with minimal scar tissue formation and sufficient recovery of skin appendages — hair follicles and sebaceous glands — that are critical for skin to exert its biological functions,” Lin Wang, from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, told Chemistry World.

The new dressing that has been developed by scientists works as a gel. They found that it works by lowering inflammation during healing, promotes the formation of new blood vessels, and decreases scar tissue formation by bringing stem cells to the affected area.

Researchers believe this is possible due to the proteins in the sericin being similar to those already present in the skin.

In addition, the gels also block bacteria from entering the wound, which speeds up the healing process even further.

“We believe this type of sericin hydrogel has the potential to be further optimised into a safe and effective artificial skin substitute for clinical use, and the successful translation of this new skin substitute may benefit millions of patients with severe skin trauma in the future,” Wang said.

To learn more about Steuben Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing and all of the services they offer, visit https://centershealthcare.com/steuben_center/.