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Skin Bank
Context:
The Indian Army has established a new skin bank facility to treat severe burn injuries and other skin conditions for service personnel and their families.
More on news :
- First-of-its-kind facility established in the Armed Forces Medical Services.
- The skin bank will serve as a centralised hub for the collection, processing, storage and distribution of skin grafts.
- Glycerol is a naturally occurring alcohol.
- It is an odourless liquid that is used as a solvent, sweetening agent, and also as medicine.
- People use glycerol for constipation, improving athletic performance, and for certain skin conditions.
Skin Bank
- A skin bank is a facility where the skin of deceased persons is donated.
- Skin can be donated within six hours after death. This donated skin is then collected and processed over five to six weeks.
- After being collected from a donor, the skin is tested for infections, processed, and frozen until it’s needed.
- The skin is generally preserved in 85% glycerol solution
- The skin is generally stored between 4-5 degrees Celsius for up to 5 years.
- There are 16 skin banks in India with 7 in Maharashtra.
- Anyone can donate skin irrespective of sex and blood group.
- When a burn victim requires skin for their injuries, a surgical procedure called skin grafting is conducted.
SKIN GRAFTING
- It is when a piece of healthy skin is transplanted to a different area of the body where the skin is damaged or missing.
- There are two main types of skin grafts:
- Autograft : Skin is taken from another part of the patient’s own body
- It involves harvesting the upper layer of skin from one part of the body to cover a wound on another part of the body.
- Allograft : Skin is taken from a donor, often sourced from a skin bank.
- Autograft : Skin is taken from another part of the patient’s own body
- Advantage
- Skin grafting reduces death rates, improves survival, and promotes better healing in patients.
- It also shortens hospital stays and lowers treatment costs.
Precautions
- The skin stored in the skin bank should be donated within 6 months from the time of death
- The donor’s minimum age should be 18 years.
- However, the skin of persons with AIDS, Hepatitis B & C, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), skin cancer, active skin disease and septicemia are considered unfit for donation.