NEWS: Burns victim injured in horrific explosion has FISH SKIN wrapped over her wounds in pioneering new treatment

Today I read an article about Brazilian doctors that are using the skin of a tropical fish to treat burn victims in a pioneering new therapy that is significantly reducing the trauma suffered by survivors.

It’s the first time in medical history that researchers have used the skin of an aquatic animal as a band aid to treat lesions.

When a gas cooker canister exploded in an accident at Maria Ines Candido da Silva’s workplace causing second degree burns to her arms, neck and some of her face, doctors offered an alternative therapy to the conventional ointment-based one – to dress her wounds with the skin of a Tilapia fish.

Maria Ines, 36, who worked as a waitress in the Casa Velha restaurant in Russas, north east Brazil, said:

“The explosion left me with horrific injuries. I was in absolute agony and desperate for anything to ease my suffering. When doctors suggested putting fish skin on my wounds I found the idea really strange. But I jumped at the chance because they said it would be far less painful than the normal treatment and easier to manage.”

She said living day-to-day with fish skin on her body was “a really bizarre experience”.

The innovative biological dressing has been developed by a team of researchers led by Dr Odrico Moraes, Prof Elisabete Moraes and Dr Ana Paula Negreiros over more than two years at the Nucleus of Research and Development of Medicines (NPDM) of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC).

Plastic surgeons Dr Edmar Maciel at the Dr. José Frota Institute Burns Unit (IJF) in Fortaleza and Dr Marcelo Borges, at the São Marcos Hospital SOS Burns and Wounds Unit in Recife, north east Brazil are coordinators of the project.

The radical procedure completed the first pilot project trials on some 50 patients this month.

The Tilapia skin was left on Maria Ines’s left arm, neck and face for 11 days before being removed.

Doctors kept the fish skin on her left hand for longer as these wounds were deeper.

Over the course of 20 days the fish strips on her hand were replaced several times to allow more time to restore the damaged tissue.

The former-waitress visited outpatients every two days during this time to check her bandages were intact.

Doctor’s removed the fish skin using petroleum jelly to lift, slide and ease the dressing away from the healed area.

The fish strips form a mould over the wound and almost appear as if they are part of the body.