Fibre Optic Bandaids Show Just How Gross Your Wound Is

For people with serious cuts – think surgery patients – making sure that gash is clean is tricky and critical. Chronic wounds can spiral out of control if infections aren’t caught early. So how about a bandage that monitors your skin?

The new bandage prototypes, developed by Swiss scientists, reacts to changing acidity of a wound – a solid indicator of how bad (or good) it is. All a doctor would need to check your cut’s status is to shine light on it, and see what colour is outputted by the thin and flexible embedded fibres. It won’t make you heal any faster, but it could go a long way to making sure your recovery doesn’t kill you. [IEEE Spectrum]