Patients with severe burns use gauze with fish skin with fantastic healing results. A revolutionary treatment with fish skin that has remarkable healing results has gained the attention of the international scientific community in the last few years. Researchers in Brazil have long been experimenting with a strange, if not unorthodox, practice of treating and rehabilitating very severe burns.

While frozen pig or even human skin is used internationally as dressings for fire-damaged tissues, in many Brazilian public hospitals, these methods are not implemented due to their high cost, and burn victims are tied with gauze, which not only prevents tissue regeneration but also makes the healing process painful.

Tilapia keeps the burned area hydrated

Scientists at the Federal University of Ceará in Northern Brazil have discovered that the skin of a freshwater fish can help heal burns. It is about the fish called Tilapia whose skin – as the researchers believe – can keep the burned area of ​​the human skin hydrated and restore it quickly thanks to the collagen it has, while at the same time protecting the body from infections to which burn victims are particularly vulnerable.

“The use of tilapia skin on burns is unprecedented,” said Odorico de Morais, a professor at Ceara University. “The fish skin is usually thrown away, so we are using this product to convert it into something of social benefit.” The method has been tested directly on the skin of people who suffered deep second and third-degree burns with very satisfactory results in skin restoration and speed of healing.

A team of plastic surgeon researchers has developed the pioneering biological treatment, and is still being pilot tested. Researchers have also tested tilapia skin on rodents in China to study its healing properties. Dr Maciel, the director of the Burn Support Institute, said, “We discovered that fish skin performs significantly better in the healing process and has soothing properties in the treatment of severe burn wounds.”

“We were surprised to see that the number of collagen proteins type 1 and 3, which are very important for scar healing are present in large quantities in the skin of these fish. They are even larger than human skin,” added Maciel. The researchers hope the treatment will prove commercially viable and encourage businesses to process tilapia skin for medical use.

Multi-year scientific research

The use of fish skin in wound care is the subject of painstaking research and study. There are many conflicting opinions about this treatment, which, although in its pilot stage, shows particularly remarkable results but has not yet progressed further. In a scientific article entitled “Fish Skin Grafts Versus Alternative Wound Dressings in Wound Care: A Systematic Review of the Literature”, published in 2023, six scientists present a series of concerns and challenges for this revolutionary treatment.

According to scientists, “wound healing poses various challenges making it a vital subject in medicine. With the advancement of science, we have seen a new xenograft known as acellular fish skin (AFS) grafts derived from either Atlantic cod or Nile Tilapia. Fish skin has shown anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties that support and improve wound healing in various wounds, including burns and diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). Ongoing research evaluates the efficacy of fish skin grafts compared to alternative wound healing techniques”.