Tackling Post-Operative Cutaneous Scarring with Autologous Cell Therapy

Abstract

Regenerative medicine has brought about refreshing new thinking about age old problems. However, some problems remain mostly untouched and are not being addressed. A point in question is the track of scar tissue left behind post-operatively, which reveals the surgeon's line of invasive incision. This confers on the patient an adverse psychological reminder and burden for the rest of his/her life. Most patients cannot afford corrective plastic surgery to ameliorate this skin defect. This paper seeks to ask whether biomedical scientists could play a role in arriving at a more pleasing cosmetic result, using a simple cell culture procedure of isolating un-manipulated autologous primary epidermal and dermal cells from a small skin tissue segment in close proximity to the surgeon's incision line.