Artificial skin

The skin is the largest organ in the human body. Severe damage to large areas of skin exposes the human organism to dehydration and infections that can result in death.
Traditional ways of dealing with large losses of skin have been to use skin from other parts of a patient's body (such the thigh) or from a different person/cadaver. The former approach has the disadvantage that there may not be enough skin available, while the latter suffers from the possibility of rejection or infection.

To solve these issues, research is being done on artificial skin. Typically, a collagen scaffold is used (the protein that underlies the structure of skin), which can be additionally seeded with patient's own cells, or with foreskin from newborns that was removed during circumcision. Additional technologies, such as an autologous spray-on skin are being tested in efforts to accelerate healing and minimize scarring.