2024 | Hossein Omidian, Renae L. Wilson, Erma J. Gill
This manuscript explores the advancements and challenges in self-healing hydrogels for wound care. Self-healing hydrogels, which mimic the body's extracellular matrix, offer promising solutions for addressing antibiotic resistance and tailored wound care. These hydrogels exhibit accelerated wound closure and tissue regeneration, with multifunctional properties such as controlled drug release, antimicrobial activity, and real-time wound assessment. However, challenges include scalability, long-term safety, and variability in clinical outcomes. Future directions emphasize personalized medicine, manufacturing innovation, rigorous clinical trials, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The manuscript highlights the ongoing pursuit of effective, adaptable, and comprehensive wound care solutions to transform medical treatments and improve patient outcomes. Key advancements include injectable hydrogels, dynamic covalent crosslinking, ionic crosslinking, and metal coordination, which enhance mechanical strength, antibacterial properties, and therapeutic delivery.This manuscript explores the advancements and challenges in self-healing hydrogels for wound care. Self-healing hydrogels, which mimic the body's extracellular matrix, offer promising solutions for addressing antibiotic resistance and tailored wound care. These hydrogels exhibit accelerated wound closure and tissue regeneration, with multifunctional properties such as controlled drug release, antimicrobial activity, and real-time wound assessment. However, challenges include scalability, long-term safety, and variability in clinical outcomes. Future directions emphasize personalized medicine, manufacturing innovation, rigorous clinical trials, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The manuscript highlights the ongoing pursuit of effective, adaptable, and comprehensive wound care solutions to transform medical treatments and improve patient outcomes. Key advancements include injectable hydrogels, dynamic covalent crosslinking, ionic crosslinking, and metal coordination, which enhance mechanical strength, antibacterial properties, and therapeutic delivery.