Bleeding represents a critical challenge across diverse medical scenarios, underscoring the urgent need for the development of advanced hemostatic materials. This review focuses on gelatin-based hemostatic hydrogels, which exert hemostatic effects through multiple mechanisms: physical hemostasis, physiological hemostasis, and synergistic hemostasis. These mechanisms enhance hemostatic efficacy for cutaneous wounds via distinct pathways. The hydrogels are further categorized according to different cross-linking strategies, with a systematic review and synthesis of their hemostatic mechanisms, properties, and applications. In vitro studies demonstrate their remarkable hemostatic performance across a spectrum of bleeding models. However, inherent limitations-such as suboptimal mechanical strength and reliance on single hemostatic pathways-necessitate addressing through material modification and composite cross-linking strategies. Emerging opportunities in anti-cancer drug delivery, food science, bone regeneration, and tissue engineering are also discussed. This review aims to highlight the biomedical applications of gelatin hemostatic hydrogels in managing cutaneous hemorrhagic wounds and provide critical insights for the development of clinically translatable hemostatic materials.
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