Great story. There is one thing that doesn’t make sense though. At the end of the story, they mention that it is still rare because it is so expensive.
But the cost they give is 5000 pounds for the treatment, and 800 pounds for the “reCell machine”. That seems very inexpensive to me, compared to the cost of multiple skin graft operations.
So maybe I’m missing something.
It definitely seems like it would save money in the long run not to mention pain and scars.
Perhaps the upfront costs are higher, but they must be lower in total with this... one day in a burn unit must cost a couple thousand dollars at least - with this you get faster healing, less pain, less need for plastic surgery, less chance of infection because of the faster healing - traditional skin grafts wouldn’t be cheap either.
Second degree burns might not need skin grafts so maybe that’s where they’re saying this is more expensive but the speed of healing and the excellent cosmetic and functional results should make up for it.
I have taken care of burn patients that had to have dressing removed each shift and a silver based cream applied...we gave the patient morphine before doing the dressing and it was still so painful. Horrible job to have to do knowing your going to inflict pain no matter how carefully you do the dressings....I’d rather be shot than get a 2 or 3rd degree burn...Severe sunburn with blisters is a second degree burn and is awful to treat also...3rd degree burns cause muslcle to be gone. Not just skin, they are horrid.....