AKRON, Ohio — Nearly half a million people in the U.S. are treated for burns every year, and 45,000 are hospitalized, according to the American Burn Association.

What You Need To Know

  • Nearly half a million people in the U.S. are treated for burns every year

  • Essinger was burned on over 30% of her body in an industrial accident

  • She worked with two other UA biomedical engineering students on the burn bandages

“All I could think is, oh my gosh, this hurts, this hurts, this hurts," said Hailey Essinger.

For Essinger, this assignment is personal.

"The pain was extremely intense," said Essinger. “They had to take my dressings off every single day and scrub them to get all the dead skin and clean the healing skin, and they couldn't give you enough pain meds to, to stop the pain.”

That was two years ago when Essinger was burned on over 30% of her body in an industrial accident.

Now a fifth-year University of Akron biomedical engineering student, she's teaming up with the Ohio State University burn unit to come up with a product to help burn victims have a better healing and recovery experience.

“The goal is to make a better burn bandage for burn victims, just like me," said Essinger.

Essinger said during her research, she found a lack of burn bandages that met the industry standard.  

“Our goal is to create a bandage that slips less and pulls on the skin less and is better at application," said Essinger.

She's working with fellow biomedical engineering students Matthew Flaker and Andrew Martin to design and build burn bandages that are versatile, efficient and useful.

“We wanted it to be modular, which meant there were multiple pieces and you didn't have to put all of one bandage for if you only burn your arm or your leg," said Essinger.

Martin's focus is sewing the prototype. This project hit home for him because his uncle experienced chemical burns on his body. He joined Essinger's team because he wanted to do work on a meaningful project.

“I like bringing value to both the patient and the clinician," said Martin, who is also a biomedical engineering student. “Originally, I wanted to go to med school and be one of the doctors, but I decided that I can solve problems and bring just as much value to the health space through engineering.”

Flaker's role is making sure good material is used for the product, meeting deadlines and keeping up with schedules. He said this product brings excitement for him, his team, the doctors and the patients.

“It is very difficult for clinicians to apply the current solutions in hospitals, and it's also difficult for the patients or their caregivers at home to apply these bandages," said Flaker, a biomedical engineering student.” I'm also just excited to be able to help patients as an engineer, I want to be able to help people.”

The team is celebrating a second-place victory in the Northeast Ohio Medical University Bench to Bedside product design competition, and first place in Akron’s biomedical department design day. The burn bandages are still in the creation phase all three students will graduate in May but have no intentions on letting go of the project.

“After graduation, we hope to continue to improve our design so that patients have the best healing and recovery experience," said Essinger.

The students say the bandages are mainly for burn victims but can be used for any skin problem.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Hailey Essinger's name. This has been corrected. (April 23, 2025)