Ultrasound speeds up skin recovery

Scientists have discovered that ultrasound treatment can accelerate the healing process of skin wounds.

Using ultrasound vibrations, a research team at the University of Sheffield found they could simulate regeneration of cells in skin wounds and speed up the recovery process by 30%.

“Using ultrasound wakes up the cells and stimulates a normal healing process. Because it is just speeding up the normal processes, the treatment doesn’t carry the risk of side effects that are often associated with drug treatments,” said Dr Mark Bass at the University of Sheffield’s Centre for Membrane Interactions and Dynamics.

In the study, published in The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, the team used diabetic and aged mice and studied the effects of ultrasound stimulation on their wounded skin. They discovered ultrasound stimulation recruits fibroblasts – cells important in the healing process – to the wound bed; reduces healing times by 30% and also restores healing rates to those observed in young, healthy animals.

The scientists believe that the treatment can be particularly effective when treating diabetics and the elderly.

Next, the scientists will continue their research to improve the effects of the treatment. They hope this wound therapy will be implemented in the next three or four years.

Dr Bass said: “Now that we have proven the effectiveness of ultrasound we need to explore the signal further. We have found that the ultrasound signal we currently use is effective, but it is possible that by refining the treatment we could improve the effects even further. Because ultrasound is relatively risk free we could expect to see it in broad clinical use within three or four years.”

Paper: http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/jid2015224a.html