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Researchers in Brazil are experimenting with a new treatment for second and third-degree burns….using the skin of tilapia fish. Yep, you read that right. It’s an unorthodox procedure, sure, but researchers are saying it is actually extremely beneficial for both the burn victim and the health care system. It’s a win-win situation, or should we say a win-win fishuation???
This isn’t as crazy as it may sound. Frozen pig skin and human tissue has been used for years to treat burns. It keeps the wound moist and allows the transfer of collagen, a protein that promotes healing. The latter is using gauze bandage, which needs to be changed frequently and is often extremely painful for the patient.
Unlike the U.S., Brazil does not have the luxury of widely available and accessible human skin, pig skin, and artificial alternatives. Brazilian doctors decided to look towards local rivers and fish farms, where tilapia is abundant. Due to its mild flavor, the demand for the freshwater fish is higher than its ever been.
Scientists at the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil have found multiple similarities between tilapia skin and pig skin. Tilapia skin also has moisture and collagen as well as disease resistance at levels that are comparable to human skin.
“We got a great surprise when we saw that the amount of collagen proteins, types 1 and 3, which are very important for scarring, exist in large quantities in tilapia skin, even more than in human skin and other skins,” said Dr. Edmar Macial, a plastic surgeon and burn specialist leading the clinical trials with tilapia skin.
The “tilapia treatment” can actually speed up the healing process by several days! It reduces the need for pain medication, which reduces the cost for both the patient and hospital. In a normal burn situation, the patient would use a silver sulfadiazine cream that costs 75% more than the tilapia treatment.
Unlike the gauze pads, the sterilized tilapia skin goes on and stays on. In patients with superficial second-degree burns, the doctors apply the fish skin and leave it until the patient scars naturally. For deep second-degree burns, the tilapia bandages must be changed a few times over several weeks of treatment. Instead of looking like the victim of a horrific event, they look as if they have just emerged from the sea!
In addition to the clinical trials being conducted on tilapia, researchers are also conducting histological studies that compare the composition of human, tilapia, pig, and frog skins. Studies are being done on the costs between tilapia skin treatments and conventional burn treatments. If clinical trials continue to show success, doctors are hoping that a company will process the skins on an industrial scale and sell it to the public health system.