"Electric" Foot Bandage May Help Diabetics

A patented bandage with tiny batteries that run micro-currents through a wound to kill bacteria may hold promise for healing the stubborn foot ulcers that plague so many diabetics. "This electrical activity kills bacteria, keeps the wound clean and, in the studies we've had so far, has shown that this stimulates the wounds to heal," said Jeffry Skiba, president and CEO of Vomaris Innovations, based in Chandler, Ariz.

He said the bandage, known as Prosit, can be gotten by prescription for around $100 a box. "We've added technology to the surface, so the surface of the bandage, or dressing, if you will, becomes more of a medical device." Dr. Robert Frykberg, chief of podiatry at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz., intends to perform a clinical trial on the utility of the bandage for healing diabetic food lesions.

Skiba noted the bandage is able to heal severe wounds, recalling one case in which Prosit produced startling results. "The individual had lost his right leg to amputation," he said, "was scheduled to lose his left leg; he was already diagnosed by doctors in the hospital. With three weeks of treatment with this product, he was not amputated. He still has his leg today."

Additionally, doctors in South Carolina are administering the bandage to nursing home patients. "They're putting it on a variety of pressure wounds, pressure ulcers," Skiba said. "They're finding the pain is universally controlled and that the wounds are healing up nicely."

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