If you’ve made it into adulthood chances are you’ve suffered some flesh wounds over the years. Some of these may have required stitches which, if you have ever gotten, you may have wondered if there was a better way to close your wound.
One of the problems with stitches is the amount of time to take to apply. This is not a serious issue for smaller or shallow wounds but in the case of emergency medicine it can present serious problems.
The cells of the body exist within and extracellular matrix (ECM) which is responsible for all wound healing. Scars are the result of poorly formed ECM after an injury.
To create something better than stitches, that could be used in emergencies, like arterial bleeds, Joe Landolina went to work. What he developed was a gel that would quickly and easily stop bleeding by meshing with the bodies ECM to close the wound.
In the above Ted talk, Joe talks about his invention in further detail.
Sources: Ted Ideas Worth Spreading