New blood-clotting wound dressing for use on the battlefield
Dr Choon Hwai Yap (Yap), a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, is developing a new wound dressing that helps to control bleeding – and promote quicker, cleaner, more scar free wound healing – for use in emergency and battlefield situations.
Explaining the research, Yap commented, “Controlling bleeding is exceptionally important during serious wounds, such as in car accidents, on the battlefield, and during and after a surgery. The right treatment can save lives but ineffective treatment can have serious complications. For example, existing bandages often stick to the wound and when the dressing is removed it is very painful, tearing the wound open again, causes further bleeding and more scarring.”
We are supporting Yap and his team to embark on a project into the development and design of a new bandage material technology that helps prevent blood loss and is easy to remove from the wound, promoting healing and reducing scarring.
‘Revenite': An app to connect and support the rehabilitation needs of veteran amputees
This project is being undertaken by Professor Alison McGregor, Professor of Musculoskeletal Biodynamics at Imperial College London
Alison is working with military veterans – including CASEVAC Club co-founder and Scar Free Ambassador Dave Henson – who have survived limb loss, developing a smart-phone app that tracks functionality and exercise patterns in amputees. The app will also encourage the user to continue with their rehabilitation and pursue additional exercise regimes such as core and flexibility training. In addition, it will help to create a community of users, supporting, motivating and guiding each other to continue.
Movement and exercise are essential within scar management and rehabilitation. It is vital that this continues beyond the visits to professional physiotherapists and clinicians. The development of the app, speaking with the veteran community, understanding their needs and identifying the areas that require more support will lead to better recovery and an improved and healthier long-term result.
You can read more on the conflict wound research we are funding : https://scarfree.org.uk/resear...