Artificial skin.

Replacement of skin has been one of the most challenging aims for surgeons ever since the introduction of skin grafts in 1871. It took more than one century until the breakthrough of Rheinwald and Green in 1975 that opened new possibilities of skin replacement. The combination of cell culture and polymer chemistry finally led to the field of tissue engineering. Many researchers all over the world have been fascinated by the chance of creating a skin-like substitute ex vivo without any further harm to the patients, especially those with massive burns. Many different approaches to create new substitutes and further improvements in genetical and stem cell research led to today's skin equivalents. But still, the "gold standard" for wound coverage is the autologous split-thickness skin graft. Future research will aim at originating biologically and physiologically equal skin substitutes for the treatment of severe burns and chronic ulcers.