Many parts of the world have a large ageing population, and when coupled with disease and non-healing chronic wounds, many health systems and economies are under threat due to the level of regular care that is required. 

While chronic wounds might not sound as serious as some other ailments, the frequency at which they open can provide a naturally favourable and fertile environment for pathogenic microorganisms. Microbes in wound sites can interfere with the body’s natural wound-healing processes, leading to inflammation, delayed healing, and infections that, if left untreated, can lead to amputation and even death in some cases. 

The natural pharmaceutical route over the years has been antibiotics. However, many microbes are now becoming resistant to pharmaceutical therapies, so these treatments are becoming less effective. When managing chronic wounds, therapies need to target both the infection and the wound healing aspects, and an alternative to antibiotics that has emerged is to use photodynamic therapy (PDT)—a non-invasive technique which uses light and a photosensitising drug to treat the wound and other conditions. 

PDT has shown that it can promote wound healing and protect the wound against infection. However, many of the PDT devices created to date are bulky systems that are only usable inside a hospital. For patients who have chronic wound needs, having the ability to undergo home treatment where they don’t need to come into the hospital every time a wound opens up would not only save them time but give them peace of mind that they have therapy on hand, but it would also put less strain on hospitals and the wider healthcare system. 

Source: https://www.electropages.com/blog/2024/12/stretchy-led-device-provides-wound-healing-home