Bandages used to treat chronic wounds present a host of challenges, particularly when they’re removed to examine and clean a wound. While this is necessary, the process can be very painful for the patient, difficult on the clinician, and the wound may become infected due to being exposed. A team of researchers from Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), ETH Zurich, Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM), and University Hospital Zurich set out to create an electronic bandage that can give a glimpse of what’s happening underneath it. This would allow clinical staff to remove the bandage only when necessary, which would let wounds heal longer undisturbed without becoming infected.
