photo by Lviv Polytechnic National University
Students together with professors at Lviv Polytechnic National University invented hydrogel bandages. They can speed up the healing of burns and providing first aid, the educational institution's press service reported.
On the frontline, these bandages are used to treat trench foot [numbness, pain, and swelling in feet that occur when cold temperatures and moisture combine] and minor injuries. In hospitals, they are used as a postoperative healing bandage.
"This is not a medicine, but a new modern type of dressing material that provides moist wound healing. This helps the wound to heal twice as fast as when using gauze materials. It is due to the fact that the water balance is ensured, the exudate is correctly removed, and the air balance is provided. In addition, the bandage does not grow into the wound and there is no injury during dressing," - Volodymyr Samaryk, associate professor of the university's Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, said in a comment to Lviv Now.
The invention is distinct due to being made on the basis of natural material - sodium alginate, which has wound-healing and regenerative properties. According to the associate professor, the problem with other manufacturers is that they use artificial materials.
The pilot version of the invention was launched at the end of January 2022, and it was planned to produce 4 thousand bandages in a year. However, with the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the pilot plant was turned into a semi-industrial one.
"There are no restrictions on the number and volume, so we have already distributed more than 70,000 bandages. They are not sold, but given free of charge. The bandages are distributed in the hospital, on the front lines, and handed over to the brigades. All this happens through charitable organizations," - he emphasized.
We will remind that the students of the Lviv Polytechnic University held the festival of student creativity "Autumn of the Polytechnic". They managed to collect more than UAH 50,000 for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Iryna Davosyr, translated by Vitalii Holich
