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Daily Mail wrote: Lead researcher Professor Mark Ferguson, from the University of Manchester, said the drug had the potential to be an effective anti-scarring drug.

Writing in the Lancet medical journal, he wrote: ‘We detected substantial differences in collagen organisation in some participants, with avotermin-treated scars more closely resembling the basket-weave pattern of normal skin.’

The researchers added: ‘With low doses injected locally around the time of surgery, avotermin is a well tolerated and convenient treatment.

‘These studies suggest that avotermin has potential to provide an accelerated and permanent improvement in scarring.’

Brendan Eley, chief executive of The Healing Foundation, said: ‘TGFbeta3 has been one of the “holy grails” of anti-scarring therapy for some time and these are encouraging results.

‘That the impact on scar formation is both structural and aesthetic is very promising.

‘What impact these therapies could have on patients with complicated and potentially disfiguring wounds is the next step.’

Avotermin affected the orientation, density and thickness of the collagen fibres that cause scarring, the studies showed.

However, the technique is only cosmetic, and only works on the skin. This means it could not prevent the scarring of the fallopian tubes and ovaries which can result in infertility.

And it is unlikely it could have much of an effect on people who are scarred in accidents.