Texas Preemie’s Severe Wound Healed with Fish Skin

A Texas mother is detailing her daughter’s remarkable treatment journey after doctors used fish skin to heal her severe wound as a preterm baby. 

In April 2022, Krystal DeVos gave birth to her daughter Eliana at just 23 weeks of gestation. She weighed only a single pound and spent 131 days in the NICU. During that time, the infant developed a deep wound on her neck following a life-threatening bacterial infection.

“It sounds scary but it was almost like a flesh-eating disease, where her body was targeting something there in her neck,” DeVos told CNN. 

The infection ultimately worsened, and Eliana developed sepsis, causing some of her organs to shut down.

Sepsis is “a serious condition in which the body responds improperly to an infection,” according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms include fast or shallow breathing, sweating for no clear reason, shivering and change in mental status. It can lead to septic shock and death. 

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

At that point, doctors told DeVos about an unconventional treatment option for her newborn. After 86 days in the NICU, Eliana was transferred to Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she was treated with numerous medications. A special treatment involved using fish skin for wound care.

Dr. Vanessa Dimas, a pediatric plastic surgeon at Driscoll who treated Eliana, told the outlet that she needed to remove the buildup of dead skin tissue from her wound and cover it to help grow back healthy tissue. However, the typical approach of surgery or skin graft was too risky.

“She was a premature baby, the wound was very extensive, and she was pretty sick, so I did not feel like it was safe to do a surgical procedure on her,” Dimas explained.

The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!

The surgeon decided to use a medical-grade honey solution to clean out the wound and apply fish skin to cover the area. The fish skin — taken from wild North Atlantic cod — contained omega oils and other natural elements that would reportedly expedite the healing process.

“It’s microscopically so close to human skin that it helps the wound start to heal,” Dimas said, noting that “once it basically does its job, helping the wound heal, then it sort of just melts away.”

The fish skin treatment successfully helped Eliana heal, showing “dramatic results” after just three days. The wound was healed in 10 days after the fish skin was first applied and there was minimal scarring, CNN reports.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Today, DeVos said that Eliana, now 3, is a happy and energetic toddler, and her scar is hardly noticeable. She admitted that she gets emotional seeing her daughter grow and play with her Ariel doll.

“I call her my little mermaid,” she told the outlet.

“Eliana actually has no idea,” DeVos said of her daughter’s fish skin treatment. “Of course, as she gets older, we do want to go back and show her pictures and explain to her what has happened, because it is a part of her story and it’s so unique.”

Devos said she’s now sharing her daughter’s story in hopes of promoting fish skin as a medical aid.

“What I hope people take away is that we can be grateful for modern medicine and the power of faith,” she said.

“Never be fearful to try something new. Always be open-minded and just have faith,” DeVos continued. “If something sounds different or you’ve never been exposed to it before, just take a chance and have a little faith. And in our case, it worked out really great.”