How safe is AlloDerm?
AlloDerm is widely used in both medicine and dentistry for plastic and reconstructive surgery. Originally developed to treat burn patients, it is now used in general surgery, orthopedic surgery and urogenital surgery in addition to its applications in dental surgical procedures. Since its introduction in 1994, there have been more than 750,000 AlloDerm grafts placed with no incidence of disease transmission. AlloDerm is a processed tissue that comes from donors who are extensively screened and tested for presence of diseases including HIV and hepatitis. The processing procedure has been demonstrated to reduce HIV and Hepatitis C surrogate virus to non-detectable levels. Additional testing for presence of pathogens is performed prior to and following processing to ensure that AlloDerm is disease-free before release for patient care.
