Editing Birch (section)

===Medical===
====Approved topical medicine====
In the European Union, a [[prescription drug|prescription]] [[gel]] containing birch bark extract (commercial name ''Episalvan'', betulae cortex dry extract  (5–10 : 1); extraction solvent: [[n-heptane|''n''-heptane]] 95% (w/w)) was approved in 2016 for the [[topical medication|topical treatment]] of minor skin wounds in adults.<ref name="EuropeanMedicinesAgency-2016">{{cite web | title=''Episalvan''| publisher=[[European Medicines Agency]] | url=https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/episalvan|date=5 February 2016 | access-date=29 October 2020}}</ref> Although its [[mechanism of action]] in helping to heal injured skin is not fully understood, birch bark extract appears to stimulate the growth of [[keratinocyte]]s which then fill the wound.<ref name="EuropeanMedicinesAgency-2016"/><ref name="Ebeling-2014">{{cite journal | last1=Ebeling | first1=Sandra | last2=Naumann | first2=Katrin | last3=Pollok | first3=Simone | last4=Wardecki | first4=Tina | last5=Vidal-y-Sy | first5=Sabine | last6=Nascimento | first6=Juliana M. | last7=Boerries | first7=Melanie | last8=Schmidt | first8=Gudula | last9=Brandner | first9=Johanna M. | last10=Merfort | first10=Irmgard | editor-last=Simon | editor-first=Michel | title=From a traditional medicinal plant to a rational drug: Understanding the clinically proven wound healing efficacy of birch bark extract | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=9 | issue=1 | date=2014-01-22 | issn=1932-6203 | pmid=24465925 | pmc=3899119 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0086147 | page=e86147| bibcode=2014PLoSO...986147E | doi-access=free }}</ref>

====Research and traditional medicine====
Preliminary research indicates that the [[phytochemical]]s, [[betulin]] and possibly other [[triterpene]]s, are active in ''Episalvan'' gel and wound healing properties of birch bark.<ref name="Ebeling-2014"/>

Over centuries, birch bark was used in [[traditional medicine]] practices by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|North American indigenous people]] for treating superficial wounds by applying bark directly to the skin.<ref name="Ebeling-2014"/> [[splint (medicine)|Splints]] made with birch bark were used as [[orthopedic cast|casts for broken limbs]] in the [[16th century]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=William Arthur Clark|title=History of fracture treatment up to the sixteenth century|journal=The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery|volume=19|issue=1|pages=61–62|date=January 1, 1937|quote=Another method cited was that of splints made of birch bark soaked in water until quite soft. They were then carefully fitted to the limb and tied with bark thongs. On drying, they became stiff and firm. There is no record of the use of extension, but, nevertheless, very few crippled and deformed Indians were to be seen.|url=http://jbjs.org/article.aspx?articleid=8666|access-date=December 2, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203015503/http://jbjs.org/article.aspx?articleid=8666|archive-date=December 3, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>