Engineered artificial skins: Current construction strategies and applications

Skin damage resulting from burns, injuries, or diseases can lead to significant functional and esthetic deficits. However, traditional treatments, such as skin grafting, have limitations including limited donor skin availability, poor aesthetics, and functional impairment. Skin tissue engineering provides a promising alternative, with engineered artificial skins offering a highly viable avenue. Engineered artificial skin is designed to mimic or replace the functions of natural human skin and find applications in various medical treatments, particularly for severe burns, chronic wounds, and other skin injuries or defects. These artificial skins aim to promote wound healing, provide temporary coverage, permanent skin replacement, and restore the skin's barrier function. Artificial skins have diverse applications in medicine and wound care, addressing burns, chronic wounds, and traumatic injuries. They also serve as valuable tools for research in tissue engineering, offering experimental models for studying wound healing mechanisms, testing new biomaterials, and exploring innovative approaches to skin regeneration. This review provides an overview of current construction strategies for engineered artificial skin, including cell sources, biomaterials, and construction techniques. It further explores the primary application areas and future prospects of artificial skin, highlighting their potential to revolutionize skin reconstruction and advance the field of regenerative medicine.