A magnetic healing gel has been created by researchers to decrease the need for amputation, hasten the healing of diabetic wounds, and decrease recurrence rates.
A team of scientists has developed a novel healing gel with magnetic characteristics that may help diabetic wounds heal more quickly, lessen the likelihood that they will heal again, and eventually prevent the need for limb amputations.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is home to the team responsible for this innovation.
The team have created a therapy that includes applying a bandage that has been infused with a hydrogel that contains magnetic particles and skin-healing cells.
How it works
An external wireless magnetic device is used to stimulate skin cells and speed up the healing process. The optimal magnetic stimulation lasts for approximately one to two hours.
According to laboratory experiments, this treatment can heal diabetic wounds three times faster than current conventional techniques when combined with magnetic stimulation.
Advanced Materials, a scientific journal, has published this discovery.
The team’s leader, assistant professor Andy Tay, described how their system takes into account a number of important variables related to diabetic wounds. Tay said that his team has succeeded in locating a sweet spot through the application of mild mechanical stimulation. As a result, but not to the point where it kills them, the remaining skin cells are able to “work out” to mend wounds.
Foot ulcers and other chronic diabetes sores provide a significant global healthcare concern.
According to the researchers, there are an estimated 9.1 to 26.1 million occurrences of diabetic foot ulcers worldwide each year, and 15 to 25 percent of diabetic people will experience a diabetic foot ulcer at some point in their lives.
In addition to controlling high blood sugar levels in the wound area, it also stimulates dormant skin cells in the vicinity of the wound, repairs broken blood vessels, and realigns the wound’s disturbed vascular network.
Over 500 million people worldwide currently have diabetes, and that figure is predicted to climb sharply.
Ingredients
The FDA-approved skin cell types keratinocytes, which are crucial for skin repair, and fibroblasts, which are necessary for the creation of connective tissue, are packed into the specially formulated wound-healing gel together with small magnetic particles.
The mechanical stimulation of the gel, in conjunction with the dynamic magnetic field produced by an external device, stimulates dermal fibroblasts to become more active, as reported by the researchers.
