Illustration: ikonaut

4 —The new skin grows with the old
This substitute skin can be implanted some three weeks after removal. The skin pieces from the lab are 56 cm2 and can be cut to the desired shape and size. When larger areas need treating, several pieces can be sewn together. In future, the skin pieces should be roughly 100 cm2 in size. The presence of subcutis cells means the new tissue forms only minimal scarring. Initial studies have shown that when used on children, it grows with their original skin. This procedure could be ready for widespread use in just a few years.

3 — Hydrogel as connecting material
The cultured stem cells are applied to a collagen gel to form a two-layer ‘plaster’ that is one millimetre thick: first the cells of the subcutis, then of the epidermis. This collagen is taken from cattle, just as is used in cosmetic surgery. The hydrogel with the cells in it is put into liquid form using a special procedure, then poured into a frame where it is compressed to extract some of its water.

2 — Growing the body’s own cells in the lab
Cutiss, a spin-off company from the University of Zurich, has now developed a different method: they remove a skin sample about the size of a postage stamp from the injured person and use this to cultivate stem cells of the epidermis and subcutis (the upper and lower layers of the skin).

1 — Scarring in cases of large-area skin burns Severe, extensive burns and injuries deep in the skin are treated today with grafts of the patient’s own skin. In order to get enough of it, surgeons have to keep injuring the patient’s healthy skin. What’s more, the scar tissue that results from transplants is rigid and does not grow with the patient. This is why many follow-up operations are needed, especially with children.

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