Face value: New Composite Could Help Facial Reconstruction

Biomedical engineers at Johns Hopkins have created a material that could one day restore the faces of military personnel disfigured by war.  The material would be injected into a specific area underneath the skin and then could be molded to help fix facial deformities before being hardened by light.  This material could one day restore damaged soft tissue and give a new life to patients who not only have to endure their physical trauma, but have to live with the psychological repercussions of facial trauma every day.  Past research has shown that biological facial fillers breakdown too quickly to be useful.  Synthetic facial fillers are basically permanent, but the body’s immune system usually rejects the material which causes damage to the surrounding tissue.  This new facial filler is part biological and part synthetic, which results in a material that has the best of both worlds.  The biological component is made of hyaluronic acid (HA), while the synthetic component is polyethylene glycol (PEG).  HA is a naturally occurring component of skin and is what gives young people’s skin its elastic quality.  It will help the body accept the facial filler and have a minimal effect on surrounding tissue.  The PEG on the other hand is a biocompatible synthetic molecule that is used in everything from surgical glue to hydrogels and will help make the material much more durable.  PEG can also be cross linked creating a lattice work that can in trap HA molecules and help the facial filler maintain its shape after injection.  Animal testing showed that HA with a higher concentration of PEG held up the best over time.

Researchers cautioned that the new facial filler is still a long way away from being available for people.  They still have to research the interaction of the material with muscle and less fatty areas of the face.  The hope is that one day this material will be able to drastically reduce the amount of surgeries required for facial reconstruction and make those surgeries more effective.  This material could one day help people regain their face, and that has all the value of the world.

http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=10260