Abstract:
Burn wound care today has a primary objective of temporary or permanent wound closure.
Commercially available engineered alternative tissues have become a valuable adjunct to
the treatment of burn injuries. Their constituents can be biological, alloplastic or a
combination of both. Here the authors describe the aspects of the development of a
siloxane epidermis for a collagen-glycosaminoglycan and for nylon-based artificial skin
replacement products. A method to fabricate an ultra-thin epidermal equivalent is
described. Pores, to allow the escape of wound exudate, were punched and a tri-filament
nylon mesh or collagen scaffold was imbedded and silicone polymerisation followed at
120°C for 5 minutes. The ultra-structure of these bilaminates was assessed through scanning
electron microscopy. An ultra-thin biomedical grade siloxane film was reliably created
through precision coating on a pre-treated polyethylene terephthalate carrier.
