Conclusion

In conclusion, hydrogels have many different biomedical applications due to their structures causing them to be preferred over traditional methods such as using alginate hydrogel wound dressing to replace gauze as it not only provides a barrier but keeps the wound area moist which aids in the healing process, and using a combination of gelatin and chitosan to produce contact lenses as it is able to absorb a larger volume of water and it has a good oxygen permeability making it an excellent alternative to plastic lenses.

Hydrogels have many advantages, one example would be that they possess a degree of flexibility that is very similar to that of tissue and they are also bio compatible and have low toxicity, these properties make hydrogels excellent alternatives to many applications in the biomedical field.

Hydrogels despite their many advantages do have some disadvantages, the main one being that the gels can dissolve under some physical conditions such as in alginate hydrogels when the divalent cations are released out into the surrounding media. Hydrogels must also be carefully stored, if they are left uncovered for too long they will dehydrate and will not function.