Effect of collagen matrices on dermal wound healing

Dermal substitution and wound healing are areas of medicine in which there have been many recent advances, but neither the commercially available products nor the products currently described in experimental studies are able to fully substitute for natural living skin. There is an overall consensus that to heal wounds, the substitution of connective tissue matrix, the main component of each wound, is necessary. Both artificial and natural polymers have been used to reconstitute dermis. Nowadays, collagen has been discovered again. Collagen is a natural substrate for cellular attachment, growth and differentiation, and promotes cellular proliferation and differentiation. Once dermis reconstruction is done, the covering of the wound surface with both in vitro expanded epidermis and autologous split-skin transplants is significantly easier and has an improved chance of success. Nowadays, many commercial and experimental products have been introduced to improve cutaneous wound healing. This review discusses some of both acellular and cell-containing products used in the treatment of skin wounds. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.