Yes,
you read that right, spray-on skin. It sounds like something out of a science
fiction movie but it’s a real thing. No it isn’t “Dermis-In-A-Can” but it might
as well be. The results may look pristine and seem miraculous, but the reality
is, it’s just science. No divination necessary. Follow me today as we take a
look at how Avita Medical is making huge strides in the world of cosmetic
recovery, severe burn treatment and infection control, as well as improving the
quality of life for the millions of people worldwide who experience traumatic
burn injuries every year.
The Third Degree
Burns
are painful. What’s worse is that when an area of tissue is burned it destroys the
sites where healthy new cells are produced. Because of this they take much
longer to heal than an injury such as a cut. Those of you who have had an open
wound before are well aware of two things, they don’t feel good, and they are
prone to infection. And the longer a wound stays open, the higher the likelihood
of that occurring.
A
burn is a special kind of wound and there are varying degrees of it. Most of us
have had a sunburn before which is usually just redness and discomforting areas
of the epidermis accompanied by peeling as it enters the healing stages. This is
the result of dead cells on the skin shedding the necrotic bits to make way for
the new healthy tissue growing beneath.
The
second degree of a burn is a little more serious. This is usually caused from
boiling water or temporary exposure to flame. The trauma leaves the skin
reddened but also causes blistering and possible scarring. The third degree of
burn is the worst. This involves complete tissue destruction of all layers of
skin, sometimes even bone. Without painful and drawn out procedures like
grafting, a third degree burn will never heal properly.
Then
you get into things like chemical burns and radiation overexposure, (and no you
do not turn into The Incredible Hulk). These create all new sets of problems
because they cause the cells of the affected area to behave in bizarre and
erratic ways. Depending on what chemical or the type of radiation several
layers of tissue, muscle, bone, even organ damage can occur. These types of
burns, like third degree ones, are usually coupled with much higher risks of
infection.
If
an infection occurs around a burn site it can be life-threatening. That
particular part of the body is already weakened from the trauma and without its
first line of defense, the skin, bacteria and other pathogens can quickly enter
the bloodstream. Once an infection spreads through the entirety of the circulatory
system it can wreak all sorts of havoc including sepsis (infection in the blood
or tissue), shock, and eventually, death.
The
procedure of skin grafting has been around for quite some time, and for victims
of severe burns in which complete tissue destruction had taken place, was the
go-to operation. The surgery had its drawbacks. While this process used samples
of your own skin to culture and grow new cells to attach back onto you later it
typically left behind unsightly scarring on patients that underwent this
procedure. While it was preferable to the alternative, it wasn’t perfect.
Luckily
there was a pair of genius Australian women working hard to change that.
Feeling Comfortable
In Your Own Skin
In
1992 a plastic surgeon working in Australia came across a horrible case rolling
into her Emergency Room. A young school teacher had suffered third and second
degree burns on over 90% of his body. What’s worse, it was petroleum that had
caused the fire. Not only did he have burns from the heat of the fire, but
baked into what was left of the skin was the chemical residue. Acting quickly
she turned to the North American life-saving techniques (wait…what? America is
being credited and not blamed for something? Odd…) of cultured skin. She saved
the man’s life.
However
she was not satisfied with the results. While his life had been saved and
through culturing and grafting some of his livelihood would return, he would
never look the way he had again. This deeply troubled her. She knew full well
that self-image was important and if someone couldn’t feel comfortable in their
own skin psychiatric disorders could potentially set in. It didn’t seem fair.
That
year she and a surgeon that had aided on the schoolteacher case named Marie
Stoner went to work developing the methods that would later be used in ReCell,
or Spray-On Skin. It was much more effective in theory than skin grafting.
Waiting for the tissue samples to culture and then to be draped across the body
took too long. Infection could too easily set in.
But
by taking a sample of the patients melanocytes (pigmentation) and keratinocytes
(cells that promote natural healing) and placing them in a special suspension
fluid (stem cells basically) and spraying them on the infected areas, the
patient could be treated much faster, and instead of using a lab, the patient
was his own incubator growing the skin where he needed it. (One time only, this
doesn’t make you the Wolverine either…)
So
she began a company called Clinical Cell Culture (C3) in 1993 (which would
later become Avita Medical) where she and Stoner went hard to work in the field
of tissue engineering. And it was a very good thing they did too. Not even ten
years later, a terrorist attack in Indonesia would shake the entire Western
world. Dr. Fiona Wood, humble plastic surgeon from Yorkshire, was about to
rocket to national fame.
And
she was going to change thousands of lives forever.
Nightmare in Paradise
In
2002, two nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia became the next in the long string of
global attacks that have followed since the United States had been attacked on
9/11. Paddy’s Pub and the Sari Club, frequented by vacationing American couples
and European backpackers alike, were bombed. 202 people lost their lives in the
attacks, but more suffered severe trauma and burns due to the massive extent of
the explosives used.
Even
though the attacks occurred in Indonesia, the country that felt the most
outrage over it was Australia. Why? Because almost half of those killed and
wounded in the attack were vacationing Australian Nationals. A Singapore Rugby
team just trying to grab a beer and unwind, an American pair of newlyweds torn
apart by this disaster, countless senseless deaths tallied up for no reason
whatsoever.
I
will say this, if there is one thing those terrorist’s learned the hard way, it
was there were two things you don’t do. You don’t blow up and murder innocent
civilians, and you certainly don’t want to **** with European sports. The men
responsible were eventually found and executed, but this did nothing to help
the many suffering victims that were still alive. A memorial was erected in
honor of those who no longer were.
That’s
when Dr. Fiona Wood stepped up to the plate. The largest group of the survivors
was taken to Royal Perth in Western Australia. The degree to which the burns
ranged varied depending on where they were relative to the blast, but reports
claim victims ranging anywhere from 2% (the fortunate) all the way to 92%
(sadly the not so fortunate).
Because
of her revolutionary skin-in-a-bottle treatment however, most of the patients
survived. What’s more is that most of the patients recovered with some normalcy
to them. Infection rates were incredibly low considering the intensity of the
trauma and severity of burns in most cases. Dr. Wood was a hero.
In
the coming years this incredible technology would make its rounds through the
U.K., Germany, France, Canada, and eventually land on America’s doorstep.
However, while all these other nations clearly saw the benefits of this
wonderful treatment, the United States, to date, is still pending FDA approval.
Why you ask? Many superficial reasons I’m sure, but the main one at the root of
it all is none other than the nefarious words…
…Stem Cells.
FDA’s Ruling of Nines
If Eminem is considered the king of
controversy amongst the Hip-Hop community then he would be the Stem Cells of
the medical versus politics world. Nothing can turn a person into a feral
monster quicker than talking about a sensitive topic that goes against their
personal beliefs. So most people, rather than risk offending someone and
opening the door to a possibly enlightening conversation, one that could push
us forward as a species, prefer to keep their mouths shut so as to avoid
confrontation. To these people I have but one thing to say…
Toughen up. Talk about it. The less
resistance the government officials see from the well-educated populace, the
more alluring the prospect of pushing it forward becomes to them. After all,
keeping the people happy is what keeps them
all rich and happy. (I’m not bitter or anything…)
The reality is I can joke a little bit
today because we aren’t talking about Embryonic Stem Cells. The Stem Cells we’re
talking about are the ones growing inside of you right now, the ones waiting
for something to happen so they can get their opportunity to shine. The ones
that are removed via a scraping procedure, cultured, and grown right back on
the affected area to the degree of nothing ever happened.
Just look at what this product is
capable of doing folks. This is a before and after image of a little boy who
suffered terrible burns after scalding tea was spilled down the front of him:
Yes,
there’s a little bit of post-op inflammations and redness, but if you look at
this next photo:
The
pictures on the left and in the middle are of the same child. This was taken
four months after the procedure. The little boy on the far right did not
receive ReCell. That is what a skin graft looks like after third degree burns
in the same time frame. The saddest part of all is that boy will have to
undergo many more of these painful procedures before he reaches adulthood. Why?
Because his skin will keep growing, but the completely dead areas that the
graft couldn’t fully repair, will never grow without being replaced.
This
is not a pitch for Avita Medical, or ReCell, or Spray-On Skin. This is me
asking, no wait, this is me begging
that everyone begins paying attention to the subtle differences petty semantics,
like the difference between Embryonic Stem Cells and your very own Stem Cells
you still have and grow inside you, can make.
Think
about it. If that was your son, wouldn’t you want him to look like the boy in
middle, (God forbid something so awful happen to your child, I could never
imagine.) rather than the young man on the far right? It’s possible. The
technology exists and the rest of the world knows it, but because America
forbids Stem Cell research, even if it’s victimless, we will remain in the
medical Stone Age.
After
all, I’ll bet some of you didn’t even know there was any other kind of stem cell
than Embryonic. And all I have to say to that is if that’s the case, then I
rest mine. We need to get talking about it. Educate each other, and maybe
someday very soon, this will be a reality the entire world round, and no little
boy or girl, man or woman, will have to suffer like that ever again. Thank you
for reading.
-
Ryan
Sanders
Thanks for reading TI&IT, your
continued support is what keeps me writing these. I hope you enjoyed this
article and if you’d like to know anything more about Avita Medical, ReCell, or
any of the other subjects discussed in this article follow any of the links
below. Happy learning!
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