Burn victim covered with fish skin in pioneering new treatment

(Caters)

Brazilian doctors are using the skin of a tropical fish to treat burn victims in a pioneering new therapy that is significantly reducing the trauma suffered by survivors.

It’s the first time in medical history that researchers have used the skin of an aquatic animal as a Band-Aid to treat lesions.

When a gas cooker canister exploded in an accident at Maria Ines Candido da Silva’s workplace, causing second degree burns to her arms, neck and some of her face, doctors offered an alternative therapy to the conventional ointment-based one: to dress her wounds with the skin of a Tilapia fish.

Maria Ines, 36, who worked as a waitress in the Casa Velha restaurant in Russas, north east Brazil, said: “The explosion left me with horrific injuries.

“I was in absolute agony and desperate for anything to ease my suffering.

“When doctors suggested putting fish skin on my wounds I found the idea really strange.

“But I jumped at the chance because they said it would be far less painful than the normal treatment and easier to manage.”

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