Usually when the body loses the protective covering of the skin due to burns, injury or illness, doctors perform a surgical procedure known as skin grafting.
Skin grafting involves removing skin from one area of the body and moving it, or transplanting it, to a different area.
But doctors in Brazilian have found a better way to treat burns injury.
And for that we have the tilapia fish to thank.
In the process pioneered by Brazilian plastic surgeons in 2016, the fish’s skin is treated with sterilising agents, irradiated to kill viruses then packaged and refrigerated, UK- based Nigerian doctor, Olufunmilayo Ogunsanya, stated.
He added, “Once cleaned and treated, it can be kept for two years.
“Traditional treatment requires application of gauze, occlusive dressings which needs to be changed daily. This alone causes pain for patients.
“The Tilapia fish skin has high levels of collagen type 1, stays moist longer than gauze, and does not need to be changed frequently.
“So they apply the Tilapia Fish Skin on the Burns area for 9-11 days and bandage it. They don’t remove it/change it during that period. Then it’s removed at the end of the treatment. What the doctors found is that the healing process is quite good and formation of scars is low.”
Dr Ogunsanya also shared photos of patients that have undergone the treatment.
See photos of patients treated with the procedure:
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