• Question: You said you were working on a "tissue expander". Is this made from the cells of the person who is getting the skin or does it come from someone else? :)

    Asked by to Jess on 18 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Jess Smith

      Jess Smith answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      A great question!

      Our tissue expanders are made of a special kind of plastic (very similar to the plastic that they use in contact lenses).

      Before we put them in the body they are round and flat and quite hard. When they are in the body they absorb water from the body and start to swell up. As they grow bigger they push the skin out stretching it. When skin is stretched the skin cells inside reproduce quicker- making more skin. When the surgery comes they take out the implant (the expander) and then the skin that was covering it is all baggy and loose. This extra skin is used in the surgery (maybe to replace damaged skin).

      So really it is made from the cells of the person who is getting the skin, but it is made the same way that your skin normally grows, at the site where it will be used. It means that there will be no rejection (sometimes if you use someone elses cells the body attacks them), and the surgery is less invasive.

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