This is probably the weirdest thing I have ever read about. I would first like to disclose that I don't know if this is being done anywhere else but what I want to talk about is the use of sterilized Tilapia skin in the recovery of burn victims in Brazil.
The pictures themselves aren't too pretty, they make the patients look like sea mutants. But at the same time the effects the Tilapia skin has on the injuries is what truly intrigues me about this discovery.
Apparently animal skin has been used widely in developed countries in order to treat second and third degree burns. But countries such as Brazil lack access to the amounts of human and pig skin that we have in countries such as the U.S. The materials they have cover only one percent of the burn victims in their country; the rest are covered in gauze and a burn cream made with Silver. While this method does protect the burn victim from infection it does not exactly help the healing process over all. These kinds of bandages need to be changed constantly and this is a very painful process. To break it down as to why, think of it this way: when they place the bandage over the burn the injury begins to adhere to the gauze. Rip that off every day and wash the wound and not only is it going to be excruciating, but it is also going to make the healing process longer and less effective.
According to Dr. Edmar Maciel, doctors were surprised at the amount of proteins that they found in the Tilapia skin that can aid in burn recovery - particularly types 1 and 3 - and the fact that there was an even higher concentration of them than they could find in human or animal skins. There is also a greater amount of moisture and tension/resistance in the skin. This makes it a stronger and more effective bandage for those suffering from third and second degree burns. The Tilapia skin adheres to the burn and does not come off until the wound is completely healed. This means that there is no need for painful removal and cleaning of bandages every day.
Overall this sounds like an amazing discovery in the medical field. Especially for countries that may not have the resources to obtain the same treatment supplies - ie animal skin - as more developed countries. Due to animal rights activists, the price of obtaining animal skin for these kinds of treatments his sky-rocketed. This makes it difficult for under-developed countries to get their hands on what they need, Here in America we have a very large supply of donated human skin which means there is a very small chance that this method of using Tilapia skin will come to our hospitals any time soon.
The only concern with this method is that countries need to be sure that they have the proper funding and tools to sterilize the fish skin so that they know there are no diseases on it. I don't want to think about what could happen if someone slapped a dirty, disease ridden piece of fish skin on someones already nasty burn. I can almost smell the infection.
No matter how much I read about the benefits of this methodand how much good it is going to do I can't waver from my gut reaction to it.
Ew.
Don't get me wrong, I think that this is amazing and it could help so many countries who don't have the means to obtain the same medical supplies that we as Americans have. But come on, have you been looking at the pictures I put in this article? The patients look like some guy found the Loch Ness Monster and had a love-child with it. If I'm being completely honest, if I was a burn victim who had to have this treatment I would spend most of my recovery time trying to get people to touch it or trying to convince them this was my new skin. So there are two sides to my feelings on this topic. One side: This is gross, they look like fish people, I wouldn't want that on my body. The other: This is amazing and I want to get a nasty burn so that I can run around trying to convince people I'm a fish person now. Long story short I am both repulsed and amazed by how this is going to help those who's countries may not have been able to help them before.
