Lab-Grown Skin Used On Stubborn Wounds

MIAMI -- A new way to heal wounds in diabetics comes from a source of skin that would normally be discarded.

Cora McKinney was diagnosed with diabetes eight years ago. Since then, she's developed several bad ulcers, or chronic wounds, on one of her feet.

"There were times that I thought maybe it was best if they cut it off," McKinney said.

Her physician, Dr. Bernardo Johr with Parkway Regional's Wound Care Clinic in Miami, said McKinney's wounds are improving, thanks to something called an apligraph.

"It's laboratory-grown human skin," Johr said. "We apply it as a skin graft on open wounds that would otherwise take much longer to heal."

This laboratory-grown skin is taken from the foreskin of newborns after circumcision.

Manufacturers said that just one donated piece of circumcised skin produces enough cellular material to cover the size of a football field.

Researchers said the apligraph heals wounds that were impossible to treat, like the ulcers on McKinney's foot.

"We treated her for a wound on her foot for a long time by regular means, and we got to a point where the wound just wouldn't progress any further," Johr said. "We did use the apligraph, and it healed it within a couple of weeks."

Johr said that not only do wounds heal faster, they are less likely to reoccur after they heal.