Hi everybody! It’s Doctor Ric! I’m Starfleet certified, hey it’s made up, you can’t
say not. Last week we looked at the hypospray, a common find in most sickbays and medkits
and continuing the medical theme this time I thought we could take a look at the Dermal
Regenerator, on the surface quite a straightforward piece of kit but there’s a lot going on
under the hood. As with the last bit of tech, we’re also going to look at real-world technology
that either inspired or was inspired by this medical magic wand.
First off, what is it? The name says it all, it regenerates tissue specifically the dermal
layers, the skin as well as some minor healing beneath it in the dermis. The device itself
has undergone several different iterations over the decades but remains handheld with
an energy emitter at one end. However, there are often even different models of regenerator
at play within the same sickbay, presumable for different wound types.
Basically the device emits a beneficial radiation that accelerates the healing process of skin
cells. This healing effect could also be used to regenerate scar tissue and remove cosmetic
blemishes but all its abilities were focused around the outer layers of the body. It was
therefore not an ideal tool to be used on lacerations that went too deep and other such
injuries, however it excelled at healing up to second degree burns and grazes. It can
also be used to heal deeper bruising in a limited capacity.
The common device actually is a fairly late addition to the Star Trek canon, it being
an evolution of earlier items that served a similar purpose. The auto-suture has been
around in the Trek universe since the early 2150s. This device would close and seal wounds
and would work on a deeper level than the dermal regenerator and I don’t mean emotionally.
Alongside the closure of a wound, it would promote the healing of the body using a precursor
to the technology that was then applied to the dermal regenerators. Early Auto-sutures
in fact resembled more or less contemporary devices but have decreased in size and scale
with time eventually becoming very compact by the 2360s and they emit laser beams to
seal shut wounds. The Anabolic Protoplaser is another similar
device used to accelerate healing in tissue, specifically by reconnecting veins and arteries
that have been severed by damage. These devices are generally used when merely sealing a wound
is not enough sitting somewhere between surgery and stiches. All three of these devices vary
in use, but the Protoplaser and Auto-suture date back farther than the Dermal Regenerator,
suggesting that the technology at play within the regenerator perhaps was not effective
enough on its own to heal wounds, even surfaces ones until much later in the timeline.
I like it when this sort of in-universe consistency is upheld as it makes for a more immersive
evolution of technology. By the 24th century, dermal regenerators were
part of the standard medkit and like they hypospray, most officers were trained in how
to use such a device. Unlike the hypospray however, which should be used in conjunction
with a medical tricorder to instruct in it the correct dosage, the Dermal Regenerator
was quite simply a point and click. It’s either going to heal a wound, or not in which
case greater medical care will be needed. So simple is this device, that many civilians
own one and will use them to fix their own minor hurts.
It’s unclear if the dermal regenerator actually disinfects a wound, but I think it unlikely.
The device does not spray any chemical during application and any radiation that destroys
pathogens might be equally harmful to the patient’s own cells. I guess the swift application
of a regenerator to a wound is usually enough to prevent infection from other sources, but
might not do anything to remove anything that has already entered the site.
As for the real world science, there is not magical cell-repair ray like the radiation
that is supposedly emitted from the Dermal Regenerator. But there are numerous other
devices that attempt to promote and accelerate the body’s own healing process as well as
many studies looking into the application of various similar technologies. Ultrasonic
tissue repair is being studied as a potential way to accelerate natural healing. I’m probably
barely grasping the basics here but apparently it works by causing vibrations that end up
stimulating channels on the surface of a cell and allowing for a flow of calcium which in
turn helps the body identify a wound site and close it.
There is also the application of laser technology to repair wounds since at least 1983, much
like the fictional auto-suture. There’s a variety of uses for medical lasers like
suturing a wound shut by inciting coagulation to reacting with a dye on a molecular level
to steal electrons from collagen, causing those molecules to adhere to one another and
close a wound. There is of course also the application of
bioprinted skin in a precise fashion where healthy cultivated cells are adhered to a
wound to seal it. Being as they’re made from your own body, they are assimilated into
the skin leading to a natural recovery. None of these however are instantaneous devices
and honestly, unlikely to ever be. As for the idea that certain types of radiation
out there may be beneficial to humans, well again, there are studies, but I couldn’t
find anything definitive and many scientific communities see no rejuvenating effect from
any form of “radiation”. Although the application of radiation does have its place,
there is no energy field that can instantly repair wounded cells. Whatever this energy
is, it’s certainly a handy one and judging by the evolution of the dermal healing devices,
its one that is still growing in the worlds of Star Trek.
The radiation that is emitted from the dermal regenerators is not named but it makes me
think of the Ba’ku homeworld seen in Star Trek Insurrection. This ringed world reacts
with the surrounding Briar Patch and produces an ambient metaphasic radiation which reverses
biological damage over a prolonged period. However this radiation is not a permanent
effect and according to Starfleet, was not able to be replicated although the Son’a
have found a way to syphon off the radiation. So there we have it. One of the most common
sights in Star Trek medicine and it sort of fits on par with things like the transporter
as opposed to a combadge for technical realism. Thanks for watching this video on the Dermal
Regenerator as well as accompanying similar items and let me know what devices you’d
also like to see addressed. Thanks again, and Goodbye!