Wounded? Suck it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Years ago I cut myself with a razor knife at work. The knife was covered with carbon fiber that was pre-impregnated with resin, which worried me a little. I grabbed a vacuum pump hose and put it right on the cut for a few minutes, then put a band-aid on. The next morning I pulled the band-aid off and had trouble finding the cut. I'd forgotten about it until I saw this article.

Fact: the healing process can be sped up dramatically by applying suction (AKA negative pressure) to bandage-covered open wounds. No one knows why this works, but doctors think it might keep wounds clean by drawing fluid and bacteria elsewhere. Whatever the case, negative pressure system dressings can be kept in place for days at a time, all while speeding up healing. Up until now, the $100 per day rental systems have been out of reach for the developing world, but MIT student Danielle Zurovcik recently developed a negative pressure pump that costs just $3 to build

So I wasn't crazy... well, I wasn't mistaken anyway. They're talking about open wounds, whereas mine was a cut that closed up, but maybe they haven't tried that yet?

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