Coming soon: Electric bandages

[phooph]

Coming soon: Electric bandages - Jan. 27, 2009

Want to get ahead in the bandage business? Just add voltage.

January 27, 2009: 10:36 AM ET

(Fortune Small Business) -- It may sound like quack medicine, but
electricity can help cuts and wounds heal faster. Studies published
in the journal Nature in 2005 confirmed it: Our cells work like tiny
chemical batteries. Wounds short-circuit them, and a jolt of voltage
helps heal them.

Now a small medical company hopes to cash in, with the world's first
over-the-counter electric bandage.

Vomaris Innovations, based in Chandler, Ariz., recently went to
market with the Prosit adhesive bandage, which uses microscopic
batteries mounted on a flexible membrane to pass a tiny amount of
current - 1.2 volts - over the affected skin. Though the process
isn't understood entirely, Vomaris founder Jeff Skiba, 55, won FDA
approval for use of the Prosit in hospitals after an impressive array
of clinical trials showed that it jump-started healing for all
patients.

"There's no question it works," says James McCoy, a professor of
surgery at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Using the
Prosit, McCoy saved one patient from a potential amputation and
healed another's severe burns.

Skiba, a former medical consultant, founded Vomaris in 2004 after
experimenting with the concept in his garage. By 2006 he had the
FDA's go-ahead for a prescription version. Several major hospitals
are now using the Prosit, including Walter Reed Army Medical Center
and the Mayo Clinic. One big draw is that the electric bandage saves
money: Healing a wound using standard dressings costs an average of
$1,000 per wound per patient. The Prosit costs hospitals an average
of $140 per patient.

Vomaris, with eight employees and sales of less than $500,000 a year,
expects to win FDA approval for an over-the-counter version later
this year. That seems like a stretch to medical experts such as
McCoy, who doesn't think patients should be self-medicating with the
Prosit until more research has been conducted. Still, Skiba hopes to
distribute the Prosit alongside traditional bandages in pharmacies
and big-box retailers.

No retail price has been set yet, so it remains to be seen whether
Vomaris can electrify the market.

[Braggi]

-- It may sound like quack medicine, but
electricity can help cuts and wounds heal faster. ... Vomaris founder Jeff Skiba, 55, won FDA
approval for use of the Prosit in hospitals after an impressive array
of clinical trials showed that it jump-started healing for all
patients. ...

Even if the product works this article is worded so badly it's basically full of crap. Getting FDA approval for a "medical device" does not mean the device works, only that it's not harmful.

There's no "proof" and most likely, not even evidence that " Using the
Prosit, McCoy saved one patient from a potential amputation and
healed another's severe burns." Believing that takes a huge leap of faith. It's now time for science to step in and figure out what's going on, if anything.

There are a whole lot of "miracle cures" that went down the toilet once their mechanisms, or lack thereof, were understood. I hope this one turns out to be real, but I'll be surprised.

-Jeff

[phooph]

Even if the product works this article is worded so badly it's basically full of crap. Getting FDA approval for a "medical device" does not mean the device works, only that it's not harmful.

There's no "proof" and most likely, not even evidence that " Using the
Prosit, McCoy saved one patient from a potential amputation and
healed another's severe burns." Believing that takes a huge leap of faith. It's now time for science to step in and figure out what's going on, if anything.

There are a whole lot of "miracle cures" that went down the toilet once their mechanisms, or lack thereof, were understood. I hope this one turns out to be real, but I'll be surprised.

-Jeff

Jeff, you are operating under the assumption that this is something new and untried but the ability of weak electrical currents to stimulate healing is actually old news. It's been applied in the case of non-healing bone breaks for over 30 years and has saved many a limb from amputation.

Electric Healing - TIME

Continuing education courses on healing bone with electricity for doctors:

Orthofix healthcare professional case manager continuing education

Science Netlinks: Science Updates

Healing power of electricity raises hope of new treatments | Science | The Guardian

To heal a wound, turn up the voltage - health - 26 July 2006 - New Scientist

An article from 1909:
ELECTRICITY IN SURGERY; Found Effective in Healing Wound by Eliminatin... - Article Preview - The New York Times

A series of books on the use of electricity in medice for healing from the 1800s:

electricity in medicine - Google Book Search

[Sara S]

I can't really tell how much effect it is producing, but the physical therapists at Palm Drive Hospital's therapy annex have been using electrical stimulators on my knee, after a replacement. This is along with a bunch of other sorts of therapy, of course.

Sara