# Skin Graft Gun: Welcome to the Amazing Future **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 2, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936 "2011-02-02T19:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/1 "2011-02-02T19:48:27Z")
Here is a video that literally demonstrates a gun that sprays on new skin to burn victims: [Skin Gun (Warning: Graphic images of burn victims)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXO_ApjKPaI) Healing badly burned skin takes months of grafting and recovery. Except now they have developed a gun, like a paint gun, that literally sprays new skin cells onto the affected area in a process that takes an hour and a half. They take stem cells from the healthy skin annd do some science-y stuff to it and then just spray it on. It is freaking unbelievable! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/2 "2011-02-02T19:54:15Z")
Whhhhaaaaaaatt? I’m too squeamish to watch the video, but that sounds amazing. Does it reduce scarring as well? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/3 "2011-02-02T19:59:10Z")
Next up, the makeup gun! ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/4 "2011-02-02T20:02:05Z")
> [@The\_Weird\_One](#): > > Whhhhaaaaaaatt? I’m too squeamish to watch the video, but that sounds amazing. Does it reduce scarring as well? Apparently there \*is \*no scarring. In the video, at least, the subject went from 2nd degree burns to what looked like perfectly healthy skin in a matter of days. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/5 "2011-02-02T20:06:55Z")
If you use different color skin cells, could they do an airbrushed mural? 😃 Awesome development. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/6 "2011-02-02T20:07:28Z")
I guess my concern here is that he had “only” bad second degree burns, meaning there were still some intact skin structures and adequate blood flow to the sites treated. I wonder how well this would work with third degree burns where the entire thickness of skin is destroyed and there may or may not be adequate circulation to the area. Mind you - this is nothing to sneeze at. That level of second degree burn can leave scars and result in all sorts of problems. It is worthwhile treatment even if that’s the worst level of burn it can treat. I’d just like to see something work that well on the truly worst cases. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/7 "2011-02-02T20:12:20Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Next up, the makeup gun! Be careful not to set it on “whore”. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/8 "2011-02-02T20:41:35Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Be careful not to set it on “whore”. Set it on “stunning”. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/9 "2011-02-02T20:44:05Z")
I, too, am to squeamish to watch the video, but wow. Does it work with other injuries needing skin grafts, too? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/10 "2011-02-02T20:52:16Z")
> [@Encinitas](#): > > Set it on “stunning”. And you just know there’ll be people who set it on “body armour”. 🙂 :: looks at link :: “This video contains content from National Geographic, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.” Well, bother. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/11 "2011-02-02T21:01:48Z")
I guess they felt like they needed to one-up the [clothing gun](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScvdFeh1aOw). (can’t watch the video either. Damn you, Youtube!) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/12 "2011-02-02T21:14:51Z")
There’s nothing in the video that we didn’t just describe to you. It’s just people talking into the camera and some shots of the gun. Chances are, your imagination is pretty accurate. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/13 "2011-02-03T04:35:18Z")
There’s a scene showing a man with severe, but healing burns to his left hand. The patch at the joint of his thumb is raw, white and pink. It also shows, I think, the same hand after the burn but before healing - very large bronze colored blisters, and then the same skin after it had been debrided. My mom, the RN, winced when I showed her the video, but it was more sympathy on her part, as she knows burns are extremely painful. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/14 "2011-02-03T04:41:47Z")
No, the man with the raw, cracked burn scar between his thumb and fingers was a different man than the one where the showed the severe, “bronze” colored blistering because the whole point was that the man with the “bronze” blistering had been treated with the skin graft gun and _didn’t_ have the more typical results of the man with the pink/red/heavily scarred hand. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/15 "2011-02-03T05:08:47Z")
My first thought is: can this be applied to tattoo removal? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/16 "2011-02-03T05:58:41Z")
I was able to watch the video by going to National [Geographic.com](http://Geographic.com) and searching for “skin gun”. [This link might work.](http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/national-geographic-channel/shows/explorer-1/ngc-the-skin-gun.html) That was really spectacular - that guy had significant second-degree burns, and he was healed in days. I can only imagine that the spray-on skin would drastically reduce the pain of a burn, too. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/17 "2011-02-03T11:27:36Z")
OK, let’s make it clear; there’s a man with a nasty “open wound” burn between his thumb and forefinger. There is some stock footage of a burn like the one treated with the skin gun – before and after debridement, IIUC. The burn patient who was treated, the one they’re interviewing – was not photographed before treatment. > [@](#): > > I wonder how well this would work with third degree burns where the entire thickness of skin is destroyed and there may or may not be adequate circulation to the area. If circulation is impaired, a skin graft may not “take” either. It seems to me that appropriately harvested cells sprayed onto a properly prepared site could benefit even third-degree burns, but it would take a lot more time and possibly require more than one treatment or a more complex therapy. Maybe if the cells were harvested from deeper layers, it could be combined with a temporary graft,or a split-layer graft. IINAD. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/18 "2011-02-03T14:09:35Z")
That’s amazing!! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/19 "2011-02-03T14:35:13Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > :: looks at link :: > > “This video contains content from National Geographic, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.” Well, bother. The graphic nature of burned skin being healed by an amazing technology doesn’t bother me. The You-Tube Ad for the “McDonald’s Angus Chipolte Burger” that plays right before that video (that you can’t skip past) seems damned inappropriate however, if not down-right ghoulish. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936/20 "2011-02-03T17:23:22Z")
I suspect that even with bad 3rd degree burns, the skin gun will produce better results than previous methods. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skin-graft-gun-welcome-to-the-amazing-future/569936.md?page=2)