Gel from your own blood can heal wounds
Will Dunham Washington: TREATING SKIN wounds with a gel made from a patient's own blood platelets can speed healing, said researchers in a study showing how doctors may be able to harness the body's innate healing ability. Skin wounds treated with this gel healed about 10 per cent more quickly than wounds in the same people treated with only an antibiotic ointment, a recent study in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery showed. The researchers cautioned that this was a small pilot study - only eight people were examined - but said the concept could change the way doctors deal with wounds, from surgical incisions to, potentially, internal injuries. "I'm excited about it because it changes our way of thinking about wounds. Instead of passively just watching it heal, we can now actively intervene to possibly speed it up," said study leader Dr David Hom of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio. Hom said in a telephonic interview that improving woun