This Smart Bandage Will Heal Wounds That Can't Heal Without Requiring The Patient To See The Doctor

Chronic wounds, including painful ulcers on your leg, foot, etc., are annoying and commonly seen in diabetic patients. This type of wound takes a longer time to heal and can get infected, causing more problems to people. It’s challenging to treat these wounds and for them to heal, but a new smart bandage may come rescue.

Specifically, researchers have developed a smart bandage to boost healing in chronic wounds. The bandage, which connects to an app, has miniature needles for delivering medication to the wound wirelessly. This is a huge leap from our traditional bandage. Using the app, a healthcare professional program the bandage to ensure proper treatment on a patient’s wound and the patient doesn’t have to see the doctor.

According to the researcher who developed the bandage, Dr. Ali Tamayol, this bandage could significantly change the treatment for chronic wounds. He said:

The great thing about the new smart bandage is that it can provide treatment based on the stage of healing of a wound. For each stage of healing, there is a different type of medication required, and this bandage can provide that mediation for the wound at a suitable time while the patient or the doctor doesn’t have to undress the wound.

Its needles are small, so applying the bandage shouldn’t hurt or cause further damage to the patient. It has been tested on wounded mice with diabetes and has indicated effectiveness in healing their wounds.

Tamayol added that different kinds of wounds require different medications, so the doctor can load the appropriate one in the bandage, the small needles help deliver the medicine past the damaged skin.

Doctors can connect the bandage via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for remote access, according to Tamayol. Then, they can control the time and the amount of medicine administered.

Tamayol and his team are working on testing this smart bandage on larger animals and will continue to refine the smart bandage to make it work the best possible over the next year.

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