Following last week’s destructive wildfires in eastern Attica, a renowned surgeon has traveled from Australia to Greece to assist burns victims with an innovative synthetic skin product he designed.
Dr. John Greenwood arrived Saturday at the KAT Hospital in Athens, where he is helping doctors perform difficult surgeries on victims who have full-thickness burns, meaning both skin layers as well as sensory nerves are destroyed.
Selected as South Australia’s 2016 Australian of the Year, the Adelaide-based burns doctor has developed NovoSorb — an artificial skin graft product made with foam-like material that is placed over the damaged area.
Once the synthetic material is attached, the skin’s dermis layer which includes blood vessels, elastin and fat subsequently grows into the product.
The latest wildfires were Greece’s deadliest in more than a decade, as 91 people have been declared dead and dozens of others badly burnt.
In order to treat the many injured, Greek specialists will receive assistance from Dr. Greenwood in applying the NovoSorb to victims’ skin.
The U.K.-born specialist has extensive experience in treating disaster victims, as he created NovoSorb after the deadly 2002 Bali bombings that left 202 dead and 209 injured.
The awarded doctor also aided burns wounds after major incidents such as the Eyre Peninsula bushfire in 2005 and Pinery bushfire in 2015 — both of which caused dozens of injuries.
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