The idea of spray on skin first ignited in my brain when I watched Will Smith cover his robotic arm with a skin spray in i-Robot. I was curious if this would ever be a possibility in the real world. I was amazed to find it already exists, although not in the sense I had imagined. There is a spray on skin product but it is not use to cover imperfections but as a method of healing.
In 2010, a spray “gun” that sprinkles stem cells onto damaged skin was beginning to be used in hospitals mainly for burn victims. This gun was used as an alternative to skin grafts, which take almost a month to grow in a lab before they can be applied to the patient who may have died of infection by then. The only other “last resort” option is to transplant skin from a donor, which poses a serious risk of rejection. The stem cells for the gun, however, are harvested from a small patch of healthy skin, put into a solution and sprayed onto the affected area within 90 minutes. A special dressing is then applied that provides glucose, amino acids, antibiotics and electrolytes to provide supplement and clean the wound until the stem cells establish. The stem cells then differentiate into normal skin cells and accelerate the natural process of healing. To isolate the stem cells from a postage stamp size sample of skin a process called fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) was used. FACS is based on the principle that every type of cell has specific light scattering and fluorescent characteristics. After a congregation of enzymes is used to separate the individual cells they are placed in suspension. This suspension flows through a very narrow hole and vibrations cause the stream to break into individual droplets with one cell per droplet. Just before the stream breaks into droplets the fluorescent intensity of each cell is measured. An electrical charging ring just at the point where the stream breaks into droplets places a charge on specific droplets based on the immediately prior fluorescence intensity measurement. The charged droplets then fall through an electrostatic deflection system that diverts droplets into containers based upon their charge, hereby separating the different cell types. The water solution containing stem cells is then placed into the sterile “SkinGun” (pictured). The results are incredible with 2nd degree burns being completely healed within 4 days as opposed to months with previous techniques.
This spray method is now not only used for burn treatment. There was a clinical trial investigating the use of a new spray treatment to heal venous leg ulcers. Leg ulcers occur when pressure in veins gets too high and gradually damages tiny blood vessels in the skin making it fragile. As a result, the skin easily breaks and can form an ulcer. The new spray (HP802-247) consisted of keratinocytes, the main cell type in the outer layer of the skin, and fibroblasts, a cell type found in connective tissue. The researchers wanted to see if use of the spray, in addition to standard treatment for venous ulcers, could accelerate the process of healing. The clinical trial involved 228 participants randomly assigned to one of five treatment groups:
- 5 million cells per ml every seven days (45 patients)
- 5 million cells per ml every 14 days (44 patients)
- half a million cells per ml every seven days (43 patients)
- half a million cells per ml every 14 days (46 patients)
- control solution (no skin cells) every seven days (50 patients)
The results were promising with patients who received any form of treatment having a significantly greater mean reduction in wound area than those who received the control spray. The greatest benefit was observed with the lower dose of half a million cells per ml given every 14 days, which gave a statistically significant 16% greater reduction in wound area than control.
Another way this spray on method is being used is in cosmetic surgery, alike Detective Del Spooner in i-Robot. Scars are currently only treated with lasers, skin grafts or topical oils which have questionable effects. The spray on skin method works by first lasering the scar before applying the stem cell solution with the SkinGun and covering with a similar bandage to the burn treatment. In trial this healing takes longer with skin looking normal after 2 months, but this is massive progress from other techniques which often require more than one treatment and may involve pain.
This treatment is primarily offered by RenovaCare but is also branded ReCell® by a company called Avita Medical but is also offered by . Although not quite as simplistic and stylish as i-Robot, this method is revolutionary and is able to help people with the most painful injuries there are.
Learning in Parallel 