Use of Amnion in Plastic Surgery

The Preparation and Clinical Efficacy of Amnion-Derived Membranes: A Review

“…Biomater. 2023, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 32 support every tissue type within the human body, including ophthalmology; periodontal; skin and wound applications; burns; craniotomies presenting with dural defects; bladder; genital, and peritoneal reconstructive surgeries; prevention of surgical adhesions in abdominal surgeries; tendon and ligament repair; articular joint repair; nerve wrapping; chronic wounds; burns and plastics [2,3,[14][15][16][17][18][19]. The growing fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have brought greater attention to the varied human amniotic membrane as a tunable matrix for tissue engineered constructs.…”

“…Plastic and reconstructive surgery requires a conformable scaffold and dressing materials that adhere to and support a moisture controlled wound environment, prevents the formation of surgical adhesions, and facilitates vascularization of skin grafts, flaps, and other tissue repairs. Human amnion and chorion allografts provide the plastic surgeon with a versatile material that meets these requirements, with added benefits including the promotion of re-epithelialization with its unique extracellular matrix, presence of growth factors to accelerate healing, semi-permeability facilitating the exchange of gases and liquids, a barrier against debris and microorganisms, and painless application and removal [17,19]. Plastic surgery is a diverse field within medicine that offers many clinical usages for AM application.…”

“…Amnion applied to undersurface skin flaps has been shown to significantly increase angiogenesis, reduce infiltrating neutrophils, and improve overall skin flap survival [19,172]. Amnion used as a dressing material for flap donor site wounds contours well with the wound bed, is easy to apply, provides a protective barrier from wound contamination, reduces pain, and its translucency allows holistic flap monitoring, while acting as a microbial barrier and providing pain reduction by covering nerve endings [17].…”

“…The amniotic membrane's inherent elasticity allows it to conform to complex contoured surfaces, which led to its application in many reconstructive procedures, including the creation of artificial vaginas, and treating chronic complex wounds in diabetic patients [2,13,14]. Applications have expanded to support every tissue type within the human body, including ophthalmology; periodontal; skin and wound applications; burns; craniotomies presenting with dural defects; bladder; genital, and peritoneal reconstructive surgeries; prevention of surgical adhesions in abdominal surgeries; tendon and ligament repair; articular joint repair; nerve wrapping; chronic wounds; burns and plastics [2,3,[14][15][16][17][18][19]. The growing fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have brought greater attention to the varied human amniotic membrane as a tunable matrix for tissue engineered constructs.…”

“…Over the past century, the use of amniotic membranes to support healing in the clinical setting has expanded from skin transplantation [7] and burns (skin and ocular) [9,10] to additional ophthalmic applications [50,108,109], periodontal conditions [110,111], acute and chronic wounds including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers [75,[112][113][114], to plastic and reconstructive surgery including first to third degree burns [19,115,116], post-Mohs wounds [117,118], and surgical adhesions [18,[119][120][121]. A variety of characteristics such as the promotion of re-epithelialization, reduction in inflammation and fibrosis, immunomodulation, the inhibition of foreign body reaction, and antimicrobial activity make AM useful in clinical therapies [3,17,34]. The clinical application of amniotic membrane not only maintains the structural and anatomical configuration of regenerated tissues, but also contributes to the enhancement of healing through the reduction of postoperative scarring and subsequent loss of function [15].…”