A New Mexico teen wasn’t sure he would be able to recognize himself after he was badly burned during a campfire accident back in February. However, he is now able to recognize himself in the mirror thanks to a new treatment at UCHealth’s Burn and Frostbite Center in Aurora. The hospital is the first in that region to use the new “spray-on skin” for burn patients, and is the treatment Louk Thomas, 15, underwent after burning nearly 30 percent of his body.
“I don’t think about it. Live day by day,” said Thomas. That’s Thomas’ motto after he was severely burned during a campfire accident in New Mexico earlier this year. The teen says he suffered second-degree burns to his face and third-degree burns all over his body. Thomas was flown to UCHealth. His mom, Candace Herrera, was by his side the whole time. “When the doctor walked in, I didn’t know who he was. He said, “Hi, I’m Dr. Wiktor.” And I just balled. He said, “Are you okay?”” Herrera recalled. Thomas received nearly a dozen skin grafts to various parts of his body. His face got what’s called ReCell, a spray-on skin treatment. Dr. Arek Wiktor performed the surgery.
Burns are one of the most painful injuries to treat and require specialized treatment in a center, such as Akron Children’s Hospital’s Paul and Carol David Foundation Burn Institute. Akron Children’s researchers discovered a method for growing human skin in a laboratory in 1974, and that commitment to offering patients state-of-the-art burn care continues nearly five decades later.
For example, Dr. Anjay Khandelwal, medical director of the burn center, calls the new technology he has been using a “game changer” in treating his patients. Earlier this year, he used the RECELL® System on 4-year-old Jason Zimmerman, who suffered third degree burns to about 25 percent of his body as the result of a lawnmower fire. The spray-on treatment greatly reduced the amount of skin grafting needed, allowing him to go home a week, and possibly two weeks, ahead of schedule.
“Skin grafting, which is currently the standard of care used to treat many pediatric burns, is painful, results in an additional wound, can be disfiguring, and may result in additional complications as a child grows,” said Dr. Khandelwal. RECELL, by AVITA Medical, Inc., was recently approved by the FDA for expanded use to pediatric patients as young as one month of age.
Using the RECELL System, Dr. Khandelwal collects cells from a small sample of his patient’s own skin to create a suspension of Spray-On Skin™ cells necessary to regenerate the outer layer of skin. The system can prepare enough cells to treat a wound up to 80 times the size of the donor skin sample. This would be akin to using a sample the size of a credit card to treat a wound that covers an adult patient’s entire back.
Prepared at the point of care in as little as 30 minutes, a small section of skin – thinner than a sheet of paper – is essentially turned into a spray that can be applied directly on a second degree burn or with an expanded skin graft on a third degree burn, allowing for broad and even distribution of live cells to facilitate healing. Typically, skin heals quicker on the edges of a cut or burn, making the areas in the middle of large and deep wounds slower to heal and more prone to infection.
In a video provided by UCHealth, Dr. Wiktor demonstrated how much skin is typically taken from a patient’s body. It’s a small skin sample that’s then processed in a machine in the operating room to create a solution of skin cells. The cells are then sprayed on the burn to help the affected area regenerate and form a new layer of skin. Dr. Wiktor says this procedure is less invasive, less painful and plays a critical role in healing.
“I got home and looked like I had a facelift, really,” said Thomas. “When I first got home, I didn’t look the same, but now I kinda see more since my skin stretched.” “When they did spray his face, he looked like the Michelin man. Covered both hands and face. I mean, everything was covered,” Herrera said. Thomas’ positivity and love of country music stood out to the hospital staff and country music star Tim McGraw, so the singer sent him a video offering words of encouragement. “I can’t ever forget these people that helped me so much and are still helping me today,” said Thomas. “There’s nothing like that.” Herrera added, “I definitely think he’s a miracle.”
Dr. Khandelwal said it’s a good time for research in burn care, particularly in the areas of skin regeneration and skin substitutes. “If you compare patients even 10 years ago to today, we are needing fewer surgeries and that translates into a lot less pain and dressing changes,” he said. “That’s a cost advantage for hospitals and society too.”
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