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PARIS, Ill. (WCIA) — Doctors say wild Atlantic cod is good for your dinner plate and your skin. An Edgar County doctor is the only one in the area using fish skin for healing.
Fish skin is treating burns, and chronic wounds, and saves limbs. In cases where skin grafts are usually used, she uses fish instead. Doctor Brittany Wojnicki is a podiatrist at Horizon Health in Paris. She said fish skin is so similar to our skin — it looks identical under a microscope.
But the physical similarity isn’t the only thing making it a good graft substitute. She said omega three fatty acids in fish skin help treat inflammation. Wojnicki saw the benefits of this firsthand when she had to use it as a last resort.
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“It’s amazing and that’s where we were sold. We put this graft on, and the first time the patient came back it was almost healed,” said Wojnicki, “We were working on this wound for almost six months and did all the standard of care for it and it wasn’t healing. Then we put this graft on and it’s almost healed in one visit– one week.”
This new type of grafting earned Wojnicki two awards for wound care. The latest was won by saving a man from having his leg amputated.
Wojnicki said the new treatment isn’t covered by most commercial insurances, but she’s hoping these success stories will help more providers accept it.
