"Spectacular results": Premature baby saved thanks to treatment using honey and fish skin

"My little mermaid" is the nickname Krystal DeVos gives to her three-year-old daughter Eliana. And for good reason: Eliana was saved at birth thanks to a fish skin treatment in a hospital in Texas, USA, CNN reported on June 2.

Born prematurely , Eliana weighed just 450g when she was born. She was then taken to an intensive care unit. But the infant developed a potentially fatal infection in her neck. For her mother, "it was almost like a flesh-eating disease."

Sepsis was added to this infection. After being transferred to another hospital and receiving several treatments, Eliana's situation did not improve. Since surgery and human skin grafting were too risky for a premature baby, the medical staff made a surprising proposal to the baby's family: applying fish skin to her neck.

"It's so close to human skin at the microscopic level that it promotes wound healing," explains Vanessa Dimas, a pediatric plastic surgeon at Driscoll Hospital, where Eliana was treated.

After applying a honey solution to clean the wound, the surgeon applied a mixture of the solution and fish skin to the affected area. This product, made by the Icelandic company Kerecis from wild cod skin, served as a scaffold to help new skin tissue grow.

“Once it’s done its job, helping the wound heal, it just melts away,” says Vanessa Dimas.

Eliana tolerated this unique treatment perfectly. However, the use of fish skin on children is rare, especially when it comes to infants. Also, skins from other species are sometimes used to help wounds heal, such as those from pigs, says Arun Gosain, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' section on plastic surgery and chief of plastic surgery at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago.

Three days after applying the fish skin to Eliana's neck, the results were "spectacular," the surgeons said. Ten days later, the wound was healed and the scarring was minimal.

"There were no adverse reactions and no additional surgery was required," says Vanessa Dimas.

In total, she spent 131 days in the hospital before being able to join her family. At three years old, Eliana has "no idea" what happened to her, but her mother plans to "show her pictures and explain what happened" when she's older. "It's part of her story and it's so unique."