Revolutionary Motorcycle Helmet Inspired By Human Skin To Reduce Traumatic Brain Injuries

Lazer Solano Superskin: © Lazer Helmets This motorcycle helmet is designed to save your scalp.  Not just your scalp, but your brain, because it's your brain that can suffer permanent impairment if you get tossed from a motorcycle.  Now, if you survive such a toss, it's very possible you will suffer Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or spinal cord injury.  But this helmet's been 15 years in the making so that it can offer nearly 70 percent more protection against TBI than other motorcycle helmets.

According to the European COST 327 helmet study concerning motorcycle safety, 66 percent of all motorcycle accidents involve head injury, and "rotational acceleration" is a principal cause of head injury.  That means that one's head continues to turn after the initial impact is made, causing further shock to the skull and the brain, creating devastating damage to the soft tissue and blood vessels in the brain.  This damage can result in spinal cord injury, TBI, and even death.

Impact of rotational acceleration to the brain.: © Lazer Helmets

A British doctor, Ken Philips, began studying this problem 15 years ago and saw that the "safest" helmets did nothing to stop the rotation of the head immediately after collision.  But soon he realized that nature had already created the perfect invention to protect our heads: our skin.  The skin, or in this case, the scalp, provides additional movement to our heads upon impact by continuing to move in the direction of the force, thus reducing the impact of the force on our skulls.

Biomimetic Superskin technology: © Lazer Helmets

Dr. Philips was able to show that a helmet with a lubricated membrane on it could produce the same dynamic effect as the scalp upon impact, and reduce injury to the skull and brain.  Philips created the  technology that was to become Superskin® and worked with Belgian company, Lazer Helmet, on the "Philips Head Protection System," PHPS™.  After several years in development and testing, the Lazer Superskin Helmet is available.

Lazer Solano Superskin - Hyper ReflectiveTo provide support for the Superskin technology, Lazer had the Superskin Helmet tested by independent laboratory, the Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg in association with the French National Scientific Research Centre, to scientifically assess the ability of the helmet to prevent TBI in an accident.

The tests showed that upon head impact the Lazer Superskin Helmet reduced the risk of intracerebral shearing by 67.5 percent. Here, the CEO of Lazer Helmet describes how the Superskin accomplishes this mission...

Though the Lazer Superskin Helmet is not available in the U.S. yet, you can order it from Lazer Helmets in Belgium for €249 to €349, depending on the model.