The new cutting-edge, cost-effective way to treat burns? Fish skin.

For burn victims in Brazil, researchers have long struggled to find a way to speed up healing and ease pain.

In many other countries, human or pig skin is used to cover burn wounds, in order to keep them moist and encourage the transfer of healing proteins, according to Business Insider.

But in Brazil and other less developed countries, pig and human skin can be hard to obtain and distribute widely. What Brazil does have a lot of, though, is tilapia, the fish that is one of the most popular seafoods in the U.S. and the world.

Now, researchers think the fish could be more than just a staple in Brazilians’ diets. It could save them pain and suffering, according to The Times. Doctors at Federal University of Ceara recently conducted a study in which sterilized tilapia skin was applied to burns on 60 volunteers. What they found was that these patients recovered from their burns more quickly and needed fewer painkillers.

“The use of tilapia skin on burns is unprecedented,” Odorico de Morais, a professor at Ceara University, told Reuters. “The fish skin is usually thrown away, so we are using this product to convert it into something of social benefit.”

Without the tialpia skin, previous victims had relied on gauze bandages, which need to be changed regularly, an often painful experience for the patient. By comparison, tilapia skin lasts longer and can be easily peeled away without pain, per Reuters.

And given the abundance of tilapia, researchers believe the new treatment would cost significantly less than pig or human skin in areas where the fish is plentiful. At the moment, most Brazilian fish farmers regard the tilapia skin as waste, according to TEN Eyewitness News.

Video of the procedure show patients looking like fish-human hybrids, but researchers say the sterilization process removes any fishy smell.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 6:42 PM with the headline "The new cutting-edge, cost-effective way to treat burns? Fish skin.."