Tilapia are mainly freshwater fish, and are counted among the most favourite seafood dish throughout the world. But, doctors in Brazil have recently discovered a new method to make use of the aquatic animal. The skin of this fish is now being used for treating severe skin burns, as the skin is filled with moisture and collagen to help promote the healing process.

While the treatment is still in clinical trials but scientists have assured that the treatment is less painful than using gauze bandage, which needs regular changing. Not just that, doctors have also said that the patient’s skin will not retain the fish smell after the burn healing treatment procedure is over.

In this treatment, fish skin is simply left on the patient’s burned skin until their own skin begins to scar. However, in cases of severe burn injuries, the tilapia skin may need to be changed.

“We got a great surprise when we saw that the amount of collagen proteins, types 1 and 3, which are very important for scarring, exist in large quantities in tilapia skin, even more than in human skin and other skins,” Dr Edmar Maciel, a burn specialist at the institute, said to Stat News in an interview.

The most important aspects of this treatment is that it is proving to be cheaper than current burn treatments.

Source: Indian Express