What is a Skin Substitute?
Skin substitutes are biological or synthetic materials or devices that can be applied to a wound or injury to imitate, improve, or regenerate tissue and skin recovery and function. They have been specifically engineered to replace and correct a patient’s skin’s function and structure in areas with chronic wounds. These substitutes are designed to mimic the same properties of natural skin at the cellular level and provide a temporary or permanent solution to aid with wound healing.
What Skin Substitutes Do the Angeles Wound Care Institute (AWCI) Offer?
The AWCI specializes in advanced wound care therapies using birth tissue skin substitutes more specifically known as dehydrated placental allografts and amniotic tissue grafts. This type of skin graft is derived from donated placental tissues and provide a range of benefits in both wound healing and tissue regeneration.
What is an Amniotic or Placental Tissue Graft?
An amniotic or placental allograft is a type of skin substitute that is derived from placenta. Placenta is rich in growth factors and extracellular matrix components, which promotes accelerated wound healing. The placenta is processed so that it retains its biological activity, essentially keeping it dehydrated but alive.
Birth tissue skin substitutes are used for healing in chronic wounds, burns, and other complicated skin injuries, providing a protective barrier and supporting cell growth and regeneration to promote the skin’s healing process. Dehydrated placental grafts aid in reducing inflammation, preventing infection, and assisting tissue regeneration for a faster recovery.
How Do Skin Substitutes Work to Advance Wound Care and Recovery?
Skin substitutes help with wound healing by protecting wounds from losing fluids, providing a barrier to avoid infection, and securing a stable layer over the wound that aids in new tissue growth. They also help the host cells maintain function instead of allowing scar tissue to develop. When applied to a wound, these substitutes release bioactive molecules (growth factors) that encourage cell regeneration, assisting in the formation of new skin. Skin substitutes help with faster recovery times with better results.
Common wounds that can benefit from birth tissue substitutes include:
- Pressure ulcers
- Venus leg ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers
- Severe Burns
- Surgical wound complications
- Post-Mohs Surgery complications
- Radiation wound healing
The AWCI is the Preeminent Wound Care Expert in the Pacific Northwest
Dr. Angeles is a board certified plastic surgeon with over twenty years of training, research, and practice in complex wound healing at the cellular level. His specialized team in Bend, Oregon will work closely with you and your patients to provide the best individualized and one-on-one care. We treat patients from throughout the state of Oregon, including Bend, Corvallis, John Day, Burns, Klamath Falls, Newport, Lakeview, La Grande, and Pendleton.
If your patient is experiencing a chronic wound or ulcer that could benefit from skin substitutes, contact our team.
