Engineered skin substitutes: practices and potentials

Wound healing can be problematic in several clinical settings because of massive tissue injury (bums), wound healing deficiencies (chronic wounds), or congenital conditions and diseases. Engineered skin substitutes have been developed to address the medical need for wound coverage and tissue repair. Currently, no engineered skin substitute can replace all of the functions of intact human skin. A variety of biologic dressings and skin substitutes have however contributed to improved outcomes for patients suffering from acute and chronic wounds. These include acellular biomaterials and composite cultured skin analogs containing allogeneic or autologous cultured skin cells. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.