Pakistani doctor prepares affordable artificial skin for acid attack victims

Dr Rauf Ahmed urges govt to take measures to enable production of the skin at mass level


News Desk November 09, 2018
Dr Rauf Ahmed urges govt to take measures to enable production of the skin at mass level. PHOTO COURTESY: BBC

A Pakistani doctor is working on developing artificial skin, which could provide a new lease of life for the acid attack victims in the country, BBC reported.

According to Dr Rauf Ahmed, who works at the burn centre of Jinnah Hospital, he's created a sample of biological artificial skin. This type of artificial skin, as compared with synthetic or chemical, is close to the natural skin.

The downside of synthetic skin is that it has difficulty merging with the human cells, while it is also not durable and could be retained if damaged. On the other hand, the biological skin feels almost like real or human skin. Artificial skin could be prepared from removed human skin or that of cow or buffalo.

The first layer of the skin is first removed with the help of different chemicals, which is aimed at removing viruses as well as ruling out resistance to the artificial skin.

Secondly, the the artificial skin is sterilised, to keep it free from any kind of germs. All of these stages are performed with the help of different kinds of machines.

Doctor creates world's first protection makeup from acid attack

Dr Javed Akram added that he has established a system of coordination between laboratories in the country researching on genetic diseases. This allows him to use the machines available in these laboratories.

Dr Akram told BBC that the artificial skin has been approved from the US food and drug administration, and that he has initially it successfully on 18 patients.

In the next stage, he added, it will be used first on animals, and then on humans on large scale. Afterwards it will be available for anyone to buy.

The expert said that it is indeed difficult to get the artificial skin ready for selling, as larger companies create hurdles to avoid their own businesses from being affected.

He urged the government to take measures to enable production of the affordable artificial skin. This way, lives of many destitute victims could be saved, he added.

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