Scientists use pig bladder to help man regrow his fingertip

When Lee Spievack cried out in pain after slicing off his fingertip he had no idea he was about to find himself at the centre of a medical mystery that appeared to have more in common with Harry Potter than the British Medical Journal.

Rather than follow his doctor's advice and have a skin graft to cover what was left of his finger, the 68-year-old shopkeeper sprinkled the wound with a powdered extract of pig bladder.



Within four weeks, his finger had regained its original length and by the end of four months it was almost back to normal.

Now scientists in America believe the pig bladder "potion" may lead to an extraordinary breakthrough in regenerative medicine that could re-grow fingers, toes and limbs and even one day help replace damaged parts of hearts and spinal cords and heal wounds and burns with new skin instead of scar tissue.