World's First Electric Bandage to Be Available Over-the-Counter

As weird as it may sound, it has already been proven that electricity can help cuts and wounds heal faster because our cells work like tiny chemical batteries and if wounds short-circuit them, then electricity helps heal them. So, it was only a matter of time until a company decided to try and make some cash out of this. This way, a small medical firm has recently released the world's first electric bandage, hoping to make it available over-the-counter soon.Arizona-based Vomaris Innovations entered its Prosit adhesive bandage on the market, which uses microscopic batteries mounted on a flexible membrane to pass a tiny amount of current - 1.2 volts - over the affected skin. The Prosit has won FDA approval to be used in hospitals, after a series of clinical trials proved that it jump-started healing for all patients.

 

"There's no question it works," says James McCoy, a professor of surgery at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, convinced of this fact after the Prosit saved a patient from a potential amputation and healed another's severe burns.

 

What Prosit does is activate and generate a voltage at the surface when moistened. When active, it prevents microbial penetration and it can be left on for seven days. Moreover, the Prosit also reduces pain. But, physical advantages are not the only ones it provides, as these electric bandages also save money. Thus, healing a wound using standard dressings costs an average of $1,000 per wound per patient. The Prosit costs hospitals an average of $140 per patient.

 

Vomaris, with eight employees and sales of less than $500,000 a year, expects to win FDA approval for an over-the-counter version later this year. That seems like a stretch to medical experts such as McCoy, who doesn't think patients should be self-medicating with the Prosit until more research has been conducted. However, the company hopes to distribute the Prosit alongside traditional bandages in pharmacies and big-box retailers. There hasn't been any retail price set yet.

  
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