Effects and Progress of Photo-Crosslinking Hydrogels in Wound Healing Improvement

Wound healing is a dynamic physiological process, including three stages: inflammation, tissue formation, and remodeling. The quality of wound healing is affected by many topical and systemic factors, while any small factor may affect the process. Therefore, improving the quality of wound healing is a complex and arduous challenge. Photo-crosslinking reaction using visible light irradiation is a novel method for hydrogel preparation. Photo-crosslinking hydrogels can be controlled in time and space, and are not interfered by temperature conditions, which have been widely used in the fields of medicine and engineering. This review aims to summarize the application of photo-crosslinking hydrogels in improving the quality of wound healing, mainly including the material design, application mechanism, and effect of photo-crosslinking hydrogels applied in wound healing, followed by the applicable animal models for experimental research. Finally, this review analyzes the clinical application prospects of photo-crosslinking hydrogels in the field of wound healing.