Scientists’ new dressing reduces the pain of changing dressings for burn victims

Scientists have developed a new hydrogel-based dressing that can make dressing changes in burn victims painless.

According to Tekna technology and technology news service, scientists from the Canadian University of Waterloo developed a soft and flexible material that can be used as a dressing. This material will make it easier to remove the dressing from the wound.

In this material, a temperature-sensitive polymer is used, which expands and contracts due to an increase or decrease in temperature. Hydrogel sheets can also be printed in the same way with the help of 3D scanning, which is exactly the size of the desired area.

When the hydrogel sheet comes into contact with the patient’s body and heats up, it shrinks slightly and completely adheres to the skin. A cold towel can also be used when changing the dressing. By placing it on the expanded hydrogel dressing and reducing the adhesion, the dressing can be changed easily and without any pain.

Lukas Baumann, the senior author of this study, says: “In the current mole, this operation has limitations due to the high pain during dressing change.” Using this material, dressing can be changed at room temperature. This technology could be used in the future to deliver chemotherapy drugs in a location outside the clinical setting.