Nanotechnology And Plastic Surgery Essay

Nanotechnology and plastic surgery

Nanotechnology is defined as the science of design, synthesis and characterization of matter at the nanoscale, which mesures one billionth of the meter [1,2] On that scale, structures exhibit novel chemical, physical and biological properties and processes, which enables the creation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), with various characteristics and potential applications. [3] It’s not just that though. Nanotechnology shows the ability to eliminate the gaps among medicine, material engineering and science, computer technology and public policy, creating new clinical and medical approaches to better diagnose, treat and prevent any kind of illness. In fact, it is already moving from simple passive structures

It concerns all specialties of medecine, from pathology and oncology to cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.Currently, nanomedicine applications have been approved and are currently used for diagnostic procedures, body and organ imaging, surgical tools, drug delivery systems and gene therapies. [5,6]

Plastic surgery is a diverse specialty, encompassing hand and craniofacial surgery, tissue reconstruction due to various deficits caused of excisions, cancer, trauma or congenital defects, aesthetic surgery and burn care. So, as far as plastic and reconstructive surgery are concerned, nanomedical market offers a broad variety of medical and technological achievements to be used in wound healing, cosmetic appliances, burn and skin care, regenerative medicine, drug delivery, implants and tissue engineering. [6]

As technology and medicine evolves with rapid pace and patients demand to be treated with the best technology available, while society and health systems are concerned about cost-effectiveness and safety of every procedure in use, there is an urgent need to take advantage of every technology available and make research to broaden our knowledge on nanotechnology and focus on its applications on plastic and reconstructive

They found that surface bacterial counts were significantly diminished when treated with nanocrystalline dressing. Bacteria are known to damage tissue leading to poor healing, thus lower bacterial load as a result of silver nanocrystalline dressing, facilitates wound healing, while growth factors are crucial in healing, as they attract cells necessary for epithelial cell migration and fibroblast growth and they initiate the formation of new blood vessels in the injured area. [14] Moreover, studies on a mouse model reveal that wounds treated with silver nanoparticle dressings resemble more to normal skin when it comes to collagen configuration and tensile properties, compared to untreated control