Cotton Candy-like Glass Fibers Could Revolutionize Wound Care

The glass fiber, which looks something like cotton candy, showed promising results in a recent clinical trial. A number of the patients in the trial were diabetics with persistent wounds. One of the patients had the same wound for three years. The use of the new material enabled their skin either to heal completely or to improve.

The novel material was developed by Mo-Sci Corp., which manufactures a number of glass-based materials for medical applications. While a number of “bio-glass” materials are now in use for medical applications, these products are generally made of silica. The scientists chose to work with bioactive glasses containing boron based on in vivo studies that showed promising results.

The researchers plan on collaborating with the the Center for Wound Healing and Tissue Regeneration at the University of Illinois at Chicago to conduct further more-extensive clinical trials.

More information on the glass fibers is available from ceramics.org.

—Brian Buntz