‘Water-powered’ miracle bandage can heal wounds faster than traditional methods – and costs just $1

A WATER-powered bandage is very effective at healing wounds – and could provide a lifeline for people with serious health problems.

Scientists have developed a device that electrically stimulates wounds with the addition of water, triggering faster healing.

Article published today in the magazine Advances in Science considers the bandage a possible solution for “chronic wounds”, which put patients at risk of amputation and even death.

The authors highlighted people with Type I diabetes and cancer, whose overloaded immune systems struggle to heal wounds quickly.

Some injuries, such as diabetic ulcers, can last forever unless they are treated correctly – and can even be fatal.

Although chronic wounds affect around 2% of the population, scientists have struggled to find a cure that is simple and affordable.

A growing body of evidence suggests that electrical currents are effective in closing wounds, making electrotherapy a promising treatment.

However, dependence on bulky equipment limits its widespread use in clinical settings.

The authors believe they have found a solution: water-powered, electronics-free dressings called WPEDs.

The bandage works in conditions “where many current treatments fail,” they wrote.

It’s a fraction of the cost of “expensive biologic- or electronic-based approaches,” at around $1 per dressing.

The magic lies in a battery and a pair of electrodes that generate an electric field when they come into contact with water.

Best of all, they can be “seamlessly integrated” with a “commercial dressing”, making the device discreet and easy to apply.

The researchers tested the bandage’s healing abilities on diabetic rats and found that it accelerated wound closure.

It does this by controlling inflammation and promoting angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels.

This, in turn, increases the movement of oxygen and nutrients to the wound site, promoting healing.

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“Through the preclinical wound modelsthe WPED-treated group healed more quickly than the control, with wound closure rates comparable to treatments requiring expensive biologics and/or complex electronics,” the authors wrote.

“The results demonstrate the potential of WPED as an effective and more practical wound dressing.”

Unlike similar treatments, the bandage offered “several hours of continuous stimulation without restricting the patient’s mobility.”

It withstood “extreme temperatures, ambient humidity and external pressures” and maintained a long service life.

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Researchers are eager to examine factors such as the effect of stimulation time on healing.

There is also a need for more testing to determine how well the device treats deeper wounds, which are defined as approximately 1 inch in depth.

However, the authors are optimistic about the future of WPED.

“Low cost and easy to use technology described here offers great potential for improving wound healing in a wide variety of environments, extreme situations climate conditions and use cases,” they wrote.