Gel made from patient's own blood expedites healing

Wednesday May 23, 2007 ins: Tag(s):

Technorati Tags: platelet gel, cosmetic surgery

Cosmetic surgery patients might soon be free from worries of wounds and slow recovery when the results of a new preliminary study will be proven worthy of some serious implementation. According to the study, a topical gel derived from a patient’s own blood may help wounds heal more quickly and completely.

A group of U.S. researches tested the effectiveness of a gel made from platelets from the blood of eight healthy men and women ages 21 and older. The researchers made five 4-millimeter skin wounds 3 centimeters apart on both the right and left upper thighs of all the volunteers.

The platelet gel which was taken out from the patient was applied to the wounds on one leg. The other leg has an antibiotic ointment or a dressing applied to the wounds. The wounds of both legs were monitored for six months, and skin biopsies were done on each leg at the end of that period.

The study claims that after 17 days, the wounds treated with the autologous platelet gel were more than 81 percent closed, which is greater than the 57 percent closure of the wounds treated with antibiotic ointment or a dressing.

Furthermore, all of the participants were free from infections and from any serious adverse events.

Findings of the study are published in the May/June issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery. The study authors concluded that autologous platelet gel appeared to enhance wound closure in acute full-thickness dermal wounds in healthy subjects. Also, they admit that further investigations are needed to confirm the consistency of the results.

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