You won't yet find it on pharmacy shelves; Scientists at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT in Munich have developed dressing materials and plasters which indicate pathological changes in the skin. If an infection is present, the color of the dressing changes from yellow to purple.
Healthy skin and healed wounds usually show a pH value of below 5. If this value increases, it is shifting from the acid to the alkaline range, which indicates complications in the healing of the wound. If the pH value is between 6.5 and 8.5 an infection is frequently present and the indicator color strip turns purple. That way you know when the bandage turns purple, it's time to clean up the wound and redress it.
Scientist next step will be integrating the bandage with optical sensors which could provide precise pH readouts, allowing medical professionals to precisely track the progress of an infection’s healing.
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