Biomimetic approaches in wound healing and skin regeneration: a narrative review

Biomimetic approaches, which mimic the structural and functional characteristics of biological tissues and natural healing processes, have emerged as a promising strategy in regenerative medicine and, in wound care, biomimetic materials are designed to replicate the extracellular matrix and wound microenvironment to promote tissue repair and support the body's intrinsic healing mechanisms. This narrative review aimed to evaluate the published evidence for biomimetic materials in wound healing, and to assess the extent to which current wound dressings have been investigated and described from a biomimetic perspective.

A structured narrative review was undertaken using MEDLINE and Google Scholar, and manually from other sources (non-MEDLINE-indexed journals) using keywords "wound" and "biomimetic". The review included studies published between January 1990 and March 2026.

A total of 2586 articles were reviewed, from which data from 16 relevant articles were analysed. Across acute, burn and hard-to-heal wounds, 10 preclinical and six clinical studies were identified. This review identified that, across acute, burn and hard-to-heal wound models, biomimetic materials consistently demonstrated improved healing outcomes, including accelerated wound closure, enhanced collagen deposition, angiogenesis, re-epithelialisation and modulation of inflammation. Clinical studies similarly reported improved wound healing, reductions in wound size and pain, although the overall quality and quantity of clinical evidence remain limited. Most clinical studies using wound care dressings have focused on their physical or functional properties, being described as having clinical outcomes such as moisture retention, or exudate management, without framing these effects as having a biomimetic aspect or appreciating their potential as having biomimetic properties replicating the dermal matrix.

The authors would suggest that the wound care literature contains a substantial 'hidden biomimetic' element in which dressings demonstrate biomimetic mechanisms of action without being explicitly identified as biomimetic technologies.