Mark Mofid MD, FACS shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Mark, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I’m being called to challenge long-held norms in surgery that many of us have accepted without question. For years, I used standard adhesives like cyanoacrylates, trusting they were safe simply because they were widely used. But when I started seeing an increasing number of my own patients suffer from serious reactions and complications, I could no longer ignore the risks. Acknowledging that something needed to change wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. That realization set me on the path to develop SYLKEm a safer, silk-based wound closure device and dressing designed not just for my patients, but now for patients across the country and around the world.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Dr. Mark Mofid, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a practicing plastic surgeon based in La Jolla, California. Over more than two decades of clinical experience, I frequently saw patients suffer from Medical Adhesive-Related Skin Injuries (MARSI), a pervasive but underreported issue that affects over 1.5 million surgical patients in the U.S. each year, yet remains largely overlooked by the medical community.
With a decade of prior research into silk fibroin, a biomaterial celebrated for its biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, and regenerative potential, I set out to develop a wound dressing that addresses these challenges head-on. Leveraging this ancient yet scientifically validated material, refined through modern purification methods, I created SYLKE®: a silk-based wound closure device and dressing that offers 2 week wear time, water resistance, flexibility, biocompatibility and superior outcomes for patients.
Throughout my career, patient safety has been my unwavering driving force. I’ve led, and continue to spearhead, numerous initiatives with both national and international collaborators to raise awareness of surgical complications and elevate standards of care. Through SYLKE, my goal is to enhance healing and reduce complications not just in my operating room, but for patients across the U.S. and around the world.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
As a surgical resident I had an epiphany: we were performing state-of-the-art operations yet closing them with a 1962-era paper tape, and everyone simply accepted it. That jolted me back to the childhood fable “The Emperor Has No Clothes,” driving home that progress begins when someone is willing to point out the obvious flaw no one else will name. From that moment on, I committed to challenging entrenched dogma and ultimately created SYLKE so patients could heal with improved outcomes without the risk of allergic contact dermatitis. In the story, a young child blurts out that the emperor is, in fact, naked while the crowd stays silent out of habit and fear, revealing how collective blindness can stall progress. Medicine, I realized, can suffer the same complacency, and it only takes one voice to move the field forward.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Starting SYLKE while still practicing as a plastic surgeon was one of the most challenging chapters of my life. As a team, we were learning everything from scratch, raising capital, assembling the right people, navigating regulations—all while juggling clinical work and family responsibilities. There were moments when we genuinely didn’t know if we’d make it to launch. But what kept us going was a shared belief that wound care needed to evolve, and that we could be part of that change. Once we launched, we saw a groundswell of support, surgeons across the country began reaching out, saying they’d experienced the same challenges and were ready for something better. Today, SYLKE is being used on thousands of patients, adopted across hundreds of healthcare systems, and expanding internationally, proof of what a mission-driven team can accomplish together.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I’m committed to fundamentally rethinking how we approach wound closure, because it’s long overdue. For decades, we’ve accepted outdated, uncomfortable, and sometimes even harmful methods simply because they were labeled “standard.” SYLKE was born out of the belief that we can do better: that patients deserve safer, smarter, more skin-friendly solutions. This project has never been about a single product, it’s about challenging assumptions, listening to clinicians, and designing for real human needs across specialties and skin types. However long it takes, I’m committed to that mission, because improving healing isn’t just possible, it’s necessary.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
What I hope remains are the stories patients share—people who struggled with reactions and complications, and found comfort and healing through something we built. We’ve heard from many who said our product helped when nothing else had. That kind of lasting impact is what I hope will carry on. Having transformed wound care and helped shape a new standard, the legacy is in every patient who heals better because we chose to rethink what was possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sylke.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sylkemd
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