Sylke® dressing rendering
Is it a band-aid, a closure device or a dressing? You aren’t typically able to find one product that does all these things, but SYLKE® was designed to do just that.
Mark Mofid, a practicing reconstructive and plastic surgeon with almost two decades of experience, noticed a hole in the market for holistic and effective postoperative products and decided to use his expertise to do something about it.
When his surgery schedule started to lighten at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mofid found himself with more time to explore a new and better way of wound closure, leading to the creation of Sylke®.
What is it?
It’s not hard to guess what Sylke® is made from: silk. According to the company’s website, this product is the first naturally sourced and biocompatible silk dressing in the medical field purchasable for medical institutions and over-the-counter use.
Now that the benefits of silk are being realized, health professionals such as Mofid are reimagining the role of this material in modern medicine by using the fibroin protein found in silkworm silk.
The benefits of fibroin include its strength and resilience and it has recently been proven as an exceptional material for wound regeneration and tissue engineering, according to the company website.
In October 2023, the Oxford Academic Aesthetic Surgery Journal conducted a study comparing the effectiveness of silk bioprotein and traditional dressings in healing surgical incisions. The study determined that using silk dressings significantly reduces the chance of patients experiencing medical adhesive-related skin injuries after surgery.
Data from the study shows 64 percent of patients with the traditional dressing characterized their discomfort as a four out of 10, while 4 percent of patients with the silk dressing reported the same discomfort level.
Silk fibroin can be used for a variety of different healing purposes in addition to skin regeneration and wound healing. Cornea, cartilage and nerve regeneration as well as bone and vascular tissue engineering have also been known to benefit from silk fibroin.
What does it do?
Photo courtesy of Sylke®
Sylke dressing
Sylke® is intended to perform the role of both closure devices and dressings, the two most common types of wound coverage.
It holds the edges of a wound together, creating the closure, while offloading tension with a silk fibroin bandage meant to imitate skin elasticity. The silk is able move with the patient, which can help stop the disruption of the healing process.
Sylke® is also able to act as a dressing by protecting incisions from contaminants while being pressure-sensitive and breathable. The product website claims Sylke® is different from most traditional dressings because of its dual function and use of natural materials.
The Sylke® website states that most closure devices in hospitals include harsh chemical glues or weak and inelastic paper tapes. Those materials have been proven to cause damage to the skin and sometimes lead to allergic reactions, redness and swelling.
While this product is technically available over-the-counter and is available for at-home use, it is mainly marketed for physician use.
Boxes of Sylke® are available in quantities of two, five, 10, 20, 50 and 200 with a box of two strips costing $240. Each strip has a 14-day wear time, and can withstand exposure to water. Physicians are able to request trial samples to try Sylke® out before they buy.
Sylke® also has women’s antimicrobial undergarments available for purchase that are made from the same silk fibroin used in their medical products. The purpose of these is to help skin stay bacteria free throughout the day.
“I look at each procedure from a holistic perspective,” Mofid wrote in a testimonial on the Sylke® website. “Surgery is not finished after the last suture; it is finished after the incision is healed and the body is whole again.”
Ava Huelskamp is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
