Thanks to modern advances, once-exotic fruits like pineapple are an everyday occurrence, even for Midwesterners like myself. Also, thanks to modern science, that same fruit is revolutionizing how burns are handled and treated.
Recently, it was discovered that a relatively unknown enzyme known as bromelain is contained in the stems of all pineapple fruits. This enzyme was then formulated into a cream, which the FDA officially approved and made commercially available on September 20.
The cream, according to Fox News reports, essentially treats severe burns without the need for surgery and/or skin grafts.
If you’ve ever been badly burned or known someone who was, you know that burns can take months and months to heal according to normal medicine practices. In most cases, surgeries are required to remove old and badly burned skin, while healthy skin from other areas of the body is taken off and then added to the burned area.
As you can imagine, it’s a very painful process and one that is not only expensive but time-consuming and requires tons of aftercare.
Thanks to the discovery found in pineapple stems, however, that’s all about to be a thing of the past.
The newly designed cream, called NexoBrid, has already been used on a number of burn patients. And so far, the results are near miraculous.
Take Charles Garrison, for example. After being severely burned by a backyard fire pit incident, it was assumed he would need months of surgeries and skin grafts and be left with nasty scars on his leg.
But thanks to NexoBrid, simple applications of the cream are all that is needed.
As Dr. Steven Sandoval of Stony Brook Medicine in New York explains, the cream and enzyme work by essentially dissolving away burned or damaged skin, allowing burns to heal without the need for all the surgeries.
But don’t worry. As Dr. Adam Singer, a physician at Stony Brook, says, “You apply it to the burn, and within four hours, it dissolves the burn tissue. It’s very selective – so the minute it hits normal tissue that is not burned, it stops dissolving.”
For Garrison, this means minimal scaring, no surgeries, and a much shorter recovery time – all thanks to the pineapple.
