Forget Band Aid, goodbye Elastoplast. Top Bradford doctors have found an unusual alternative to cover wounds - frog skin.

Dr Andrew Wright, pictured, a skin specialist at Bradford Royal Infirmary, came across the healing properties of amphibians while researching unusual treatments for burns in Vietnam.

The distinctive bumpy skins are used to cover up wounds and to protect them from infection while they heal.

Plasters are considered expensive in Vietnam and so people are constantly looking for cheaper alternatives.

Farmers in the rice fields are encouraged to catch frogs then they are skinned and sterilised for use in medical fields.

Dr Wright said: "It looks very odd, but they provide the protection needed on a wound. Because it is so hot and damp infections are a huge problem.

"Until fairly recently pig skin used to be used in the same way in this country so we shouldn't be so surprised.

"The skin allows a wound to breathe and protect it from infection.

"Out there they cannot afford anything else. If it comes in a tube they cannot afford it.

"So they are looking to natural, cheaper alternatives medicines."

Dr Wright was among a party of dermatologists from this country on a 12-day visit to Vietnam looking at the effectiveness of alternative treatments for skin complaints.

A trip to the National Institute of Traditional Medicine, backed by the World Health Organisation, was included on their itinerary.

The institute is one of the few places in the world where proper scientific tests are being carried out on plant and natural remedies to test just how effective they are.

Dr Wright added: "We should remember that many treatments we know here such as aspirin and digoxin were originally derived from plant extracts."

At the National Institute of Burns the British medics came across the use of frog skin.

The burns problem is very prevalent in Vietnam as many people still cook over open pans of hot oil similar to woks which lead to many accidents particularly on the legs and lower body.

"The frog skin seemed to work very effectively," said Dr Wright.

"In the end it drops off but the idea is it keeps the wound clean.

"Overall the trip was a great eye-opener. The standard of medical training in Vietnam appears to be excellent but the facilities are poor, particularly in the south.

"Treatments that we would take for granted in the western world are unavailable.

"The cost of creams and ointments are prohibitive - apart from those made locally."

Dermatologists from Vietnam will now visit the UK as the second part of the exchange deal.

Dr Wright added: "It is easy to poo-poo these alternatives but a lot of original medicines were extracted from plants and we still use the most successful ones.

"Remember, penicilin was a mould discovered by accident."