A REVOLUTIONARY skin-grafting technique that could dramatically cut recovery times is being trialled at the Royal Free Hospital.

The trust’s plastic surgery team is the first in the country to trial the new CelluTome procedure, which allows patients, including an Uxbridge woman, to be treated for unhealed wounds without the need for surgery or anaesthetic.

A traditional skin graft involves surgically removing healthy skin from elsewhere on the body before applying it to the affected area, usually while the patient is under general anaesthetic.

CelluTome, however, uses a combination of suction and warmth to cause the skin’s surface to blister until it can be removed and captured on silicone gauze, which is then cut into strips and applied to the wound.

These small particles of skin fuse to the wound area and stimulate skin regrowth.

The procedure can be used in an out-patient clinic in just an hour and patients are left with a patch of red skin which heals completely within two to four weeks.

The treatment, which can heal wounds up to the size of a 50p piece, could have a dramatic impact on the treatment of elderly patients.

Skin grafts can be problematic for older patients as the skin is thinner and the donor site sometimes fails to heal.

When an aluminium ladder fell on Gillian Mayer’s leg, she had no idea about the depth of the wound. Though painful, there was hardly any blood so she cleaned it up and put on a dressing.

Nearly three weeks later, however, the wound was not healing. It was during an appointment at the plastic surgery clinic at Mount Vernon Hospital, where the Uxbridge resident is being treated for skin cancer, that a doctor referred her to the Royal Free, where she underwent CelluTome .

“I could only feel a slight pin pricking,” said Gillian. “The heat from the machine was not uncomfortable at all.”

Two weeks after her out-patient visit, Gillian said her wound was healing well.

She added: “It’s amazing how the treatment works. I was lucky to be in the clinic at the right time.”

Nicola Bystrzonowski and Nadine Hachach-Haram are the only two surgeons in the country trained in the use of CelluTome.

Mrs Bystrzonowski said: “It’s a relatively pain-free technique that allows patients to be treated in an out-patient setting, have no scarring and walk home less than an hour later.”