living bandage

n.

A bandage or dressing made from skin cells, particularly cells cultured from a sample of the patient's skin.

Example Citations:

Last month he began a new treatment for an ulcer on his big toe which has failed to heal for five years.

Doctors scraped skin cells from his thigh which were then grown in the laboratory and are now being applied in a special "living bandage" on his toe to kick-start natural skin growth. Early indications are that the ulcer is at last beginning to heal.

— "Living bandages' offer hope to skin patients," Yorkshire Post, October 21, 2003

Thousands of patients with severe burns and long-term wounds could soon be helped by "living bandages" made from their own skin cells, doctors said today.

The Myskin bandages, which have taken 10 years to develop, are made by taking a sample of a patient's skin, growing the cells in the lab and then placing them onto specially-made discs.

— Lyndsay Moss, "The bionic bandage," The Evening Standard (London, England), April 27, 2004

Earliest Citation:

It is common practice in other countries for hospitals to keep a reserve of human skin on hand, preserved in liquid nitrogen, to be used in burn emergencies. The grafted skin acts like a living bandage to prevent infection of the burned area and to allow new skin to form.

— Dan Fisher, "Rigorous rules for medical grafts," Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1985

Related Words:

kangaroo care

scar management

skinship

Category:

Medicine