The USFDA has approved an autograft technique to treat adults with thermal burns that contain intact dermal elements (remaining deep skin layers) and require surgical intervention (also referred to as deep partial-thickness burns). Thermal burns are usually caused by direct contact with an external heat source , including steam, scalding water, hot surfaces, or fire. Treatment for many severe burns usually entails removing the damaged, burned skin and replacing it with a skin graft . Skin grafts are typically obtained from the patient's healthy skin and transplanted to the burned region to aid healing.
However, an autograft surgery results in a fresh wound where the healthy skin was taken for treatment. The new graft is a bi-layered construct comprising two types of human skin cells: keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts . A healthcare provider can topically apply the graft to the burn…
