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This story is part of a series on 10 life-saving medical breakthroughs. Click here to read the rest.
ANTONIO TORRES, A 24-year-old from Denver, used to spend six hours each day bathing and meticulously wrapping the red, raw skin along his shoulders and spine. “My wounds take up a large percentage of my body,” he says. “They were chronically open and painful for the last 10 years.”
Torres was born with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a condition affecting three out of every 1 million Americans, in which mutations in the COL7A1 gene cause defects in the collagen fibers that hold the skin together. EB makes skin so fragile that it can tear open at the slightest touch. It feels as if your skin is on fire and leaves you vulnerable to life-threatening infections.
Until now, baths and bandages have been the only management option since EB was discovered in the late 19th century. But last April, the FDA approved genetically engineered skin grafts that can help people heal faster and with less pain. It has been in the works for a long time; it took 25 years of research at Stanford Medicine, initially in cells, then in mice, and finally in humans to develop the therapy called Zevaskyn. It works like this: doctors collect a sample from a clear patch of skin. In a lab, scientists use a retrovirus to insert a healthy copy of COL7A1, then they grow these healthier cells in sheets.
100,000 AMERICANS require SKIN GRAFTS every year.
“Two small biopsies generate about six business-card-size grafts,” says Jean Tang, MD, PhD, a professor of dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine. About 25 days later, plastic surgeons sew them onto the wounds.
In the past three years, Torres has had two Zevaskyn procedures, receiving multiple grafts on his back and shoulders. For the first week after each surgery, he stayed in the hospital so his medical team could help him keep pressure off his wounds. After another week, the bandages fell off, revealing the fresh skin underneath.
“Going to the doctor only two weeks later and seeing my skin go from completely raw to completely healed, pink, beautiful skin like I’ve never seen it before was absolutely amazing,” he says. “My doctors and I were really overwhelmed with the results, and it was quite transformational.”
He’s been able to cut his bathing and wound care regimen in half. His skin is clearer than ever. And he’s in a lot less pain. Plus, he’s able to do more of what he wants to do, including cook and go to movies with his girlfriend, who also has dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.
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“There are probably something like 500 other genetic skin diseases where this approach could be applied,” says Dr. Tang. These grafts might also extend life expectancy for people like Torres. One study found that 79 percent of patients with his type of EB died of squamous cell carcinoma by age 55. Healing the wounds could reduce that risk.
This story appears in the November/December 2025 issue of Men’s Health.
It is part of a series on 10 life-saving medical breakthroughs. Click here to read the rest.
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Julie Stewart is a writer, editor and content strategist with over a decade of experience translating complex topics — health and medicine, science and engineering — into engaging, accessible stories. Her work has appeared in publications like Men’s Health, Women’s Health, AARP The Magazine, EatingWell and Prevention, and she has also led strategic communications for a top engineering college and a global oncology company.
