Scientists tested new spray-on skin treat for burns

Doctors testing new a spray-on skin cell culture to treat burns victims.

A team at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, has used the technique to treat several patients - including a man with 90% burns.

But they now hope to produce hard evidence of its worth to justify its high cost.

The latest study will examine whether the cells go on to become a fully functioning part of the skin.

The technique was first pioneered in Perth, Western Australia, but never fully tested.

The East Grinstead team have embraced the technology, and used it to treat several patients with severe and extensive burns, reports BBC.

According to Times, One patient, from Southsea, in Hampshire, received 90 per cent burns to his body after he was doused in petrol and set alight in 2001. By spraying skin on the wound sites, doctors were able to allow the man’s body to heal and protect it from life-threatening infection.

Phil Gilbert, a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, said: “This technique can allow us to treat large areas of burns - covering more than 30 per cent of the body - which will be able to heal in a shorter time with fewer procedures. It will help to heal burn wounds where patients would otherwise die.We now need to quantify exactly how good this is.”