Ioannis Yannas, Who Invented Artificial Skin for Treatment of Burns, Has Died

Someone close to me needed an artificial skin product (I think it was a subsequent generation product, not this one) to close a stubbornly unhealed wound on their lower leg. It worked like a charm after previous treatments had failed. Big QoL improvement.

To understand the significance of artificial skin, first consider all sorts of bad things that happen after deep burn. The dead tissue in a burn wound can release toxins and provide nutrients for bacteria to grow, which in turn can spread toxins and infection throughout the body, eventually causing multiple organ failure and death. Early treatment of deep burns focuses on interrupting this cascade reaction by removing the dead tissue. The now-cleaned wound needs to be covered. Skin from many species, including chicken, rat, pigeon, cat, dog, frog, cow, and pig, has been tested, and pig skin was found to be the best. As the wound's condition improves, healthy skin from the same patient is grafted or seeded onto the wound to assist healing. Although pig skin is still widely used, the biggest problem is that it is from a different species and therefore can be immune rejected. Gene-edited pig skin helps, but it may still require immunosuppressive therapy, which is not helpful when the patient is at high risk of infection.

Artificial skin has the potential for better temporary wound cover, and ideally, it can promote healing without skin grafting or using less skin for grafting.

R.I.P