A recent article in the Wall Street Journal titled Bandages of the Future Will Talk to Your Doctor offers hope that a new generation of smart bandages will one day apply technology with the potential to “remotely monitor wounds, decrease scarring and speed up healing with a zap of light or electricity.” That’s good news for Raynaud’s patients with challenging and painful digital ulcers.
Imagine a bandage that can detect the healing process on a wound and remotely transmit the wound’s status to a doctor. It can monitor when a bandage needs to be changed. If it detects infection, it can deliver antibiotics. It could measure moisture which is an indication of the healing status of the wound. And it might even send out electrical currents to help speed the healing process, a form of electrotherapy clinically tested to improve wound healing. Another feature outlined in the article involves the use of tiny LED ultraviolet lights to help sterilize wounds as they heal. In a related YouTube video discussing research efforts in progress at Tufts University, smart bandages can also be equipped with heaters that can work to promote faster healing.
This may sound like something you’d see in a futuristic TV medical series, but these innovations are currently being tested thanks to funding from the Darpa research arm of the Defense Department, and prototypes are currently on display at medical conferences, so it’s not a hypothetical vision – these concepts are becoming real!
You start to realize how close these developments really are when reading how they are designed. For example, some smart bandages use a flexible piece of electronic circuitry that fits into a bandage pocket for easy insertion into a new bandage when it’s time for changing. Feedback on the wound can be sent in real time to a physician via Bluetooth. If needed, a small capsule of an antibiotic might be stored in a valve that the doctor can remotely open to deliver medication to the wound. One drug in test is a compound labelled panthenol citrate – an antioxidant with antibacterial properties that can promote blood vessel growth.
For Raynaud’s patients with dangerous digital ulcers, this news is very encouraging. Let’s hope these new smart bandages hit the market in time for our generation to enjoy their potential benefits of reduced pain, faster healing and lower risk of amputations.
Below are links to additional articles we’ve published on digital ulcers:
Finger Ulcers: What Causes Them? What Can be Done About Them?
