WHAT FINANCIAL BENEFIT SHOULD ACCRUE TO THE INVENTOR WHO STARTS A NEW INDUSTRY, SAVES ALL INCREDIBLE MONEY - MONEY WHICH OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE INCREASED THE NATIONAL DEBT?MIT Student Develops $3 Cutting-Edge Healing Device, Field Tested in Haiti
BY Cliff KuangThe new device could radically improve healing times for tens of millions, at a cost of $3.
No one really knows why, but for an open wound, simply applying suction dramatically speeds healing times. (The theory is that the negative pressure draws bacteria out, and encourages circulation.) But for almost everyone, that treatment is out of reach--simply because the systems are expensive--rentals cost at least $100 a day and need to be recharged every six hours.
No more. Danielle Zurovcik, a doctoral student at MIT, has created a hand-powered suction-healing system that costs about $3. The device is composed of an airtight wound dressing, connected by a plastic tube to a cylinder with accordion-like folds. Squeezing it creates the suction, which lasts as long as there's no air leak. What's more, where regular dressings need to be replaced up to three times a day--a painful ordeal--the new cuff can be left on for several days.
Zurovcik originally intended to field-test the device in Rwanda, but then the Haiti Earthquake struck. At the request of Partners in Health, an NGO, she traveled to Haiti with 50 of the pumps.
Currently, Zurovcik is verifying the healing benefits of the device, and developing a new model that can be readily carried and concealed. The one technical hurdle that remains is ensuring the bandage seals tightly--but after that, the device could benefit a huge portion of the 50-60 million people in the developing world that suffer from acute or chronic wounds.
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4 comments:
Awesome. And all for pennies!
There are colloidal bandages on the market (pricey) that perform similarly. The gell adheres to the broken skin with a bit of suction -no gluey residue - and wounds heal remarkably fast with minimal scarring. I've been recommending these bandages to folks with certain eczemas because after decades of battling open bleeding wounds, these bandages have healed and practically cured a most uncomfortable, sometimes debilitating ailment of soles of feet (pompholyx) - in days if not, hours. Dermatologists are not using this yet, preferring to continue with steroid Rx, soaks, UV light Tx, lotions and potions that only work temporarily and have unwelcome side effects.
Some OTC scar patches are also water/air tight and have similar miraculous healing effects resulting with visible improvement in astoundingly minimal time.
I believe this gal is going to make a mint when the medical industry finally decides to widely market these techniques .
Just another infidel rip-off of islam!
Everyone knows that Mohammedans invented that device over 1000 years ago in Andalusia.
It's a miracle of the queeran!
Seriously she deserves to make millions off it and shouldn't be extra taxed because of it.
I'm going to look into tossing some of these things into my backpack next time I hit the road. I usually get weird looks when customs agents see a roll of cellophane in my pack, not knowing I keep it there for sucking wounds. Everything helps. Very cool invention.
On the other hand, I'm happy to travel with a nurse, if I have any adventurous takers.
I had a girl tell me that when I say I'm a 30 year old, six foot, blond, blue-eyed Norwegian working for a world-saving ngo while I await a fabulous inheritance, I can't be standing there in person; that it only works over the Internet. OK, this is the Internet. How am I doing so far?
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