An All Natural Scar Treatment
October 16th, 2008Burns, cuts and knocks or bangs in our body are all part of life. Have you ever asked yourself how our metabolism can sustain so many different types of injuries? Well, all of these aggressions commence an orderly sequence of events that are involved in the healing response, in which the normal functional tissue (skin) is replaced by connective tissue (scar). The healing response is also characterized by the migration of specialized cells into the wound site.
Healing is the complex and dynamic process that results in the restoration of anatomical continuity and function. Following an injury, your body can respond in 4 different ways:
1.Regeneration (exact replacement)
Skin regeneration happens when there is loss of structure and functionality. The beauty of our organism is that it has the complex ability to replace that structure by replacing exactly what was there before the damage. Smaller forms of life, such as the salamander and crab, can regenerate tissue in this manner. Throughout the past million years, we have lost this ability and can only recover a limited amount of damaged tissues by the process of regeneration.
2. Normal repair (reestablished equilibrium)
Normal repair is the instance where there is a re-established equilibrium between scar creation and scar remodeling. Most humans experience this type of response following an injury. The abnormal response to tissue damage stand in sharp contrast to the healthy repair response.
3. Excessive healing (fibrosis and contractures)
In excessive healing there is too much deposition of connective tissue; this produces an altered structure and, thus, loss of functionality. Fibrosis, structures, adhesions and contractures are consequences of excessive healing. Keloids and hypertrophic scars in the skin are examples of fibrosis. Contraction is normal during the process of healing but if excessive, it becomes pathologic and is known as a contracture.
4. Deficient healing (chronic ulcers)
Deficient healing is the opposite of fibrosis; it exists when there is an abnormally low deposition of connective tissue matrix and the tissue is thinned to the point where it can fall apart. Persistent non-healing ulcers are examples of deficient healing.
The Skin’s Natural Healing Process
Just as an injury occurs, several different cells are sent to the damaged site, and the complex healing process begins.
The normal healing cascade commences with an orderly process of hemostasis and fibrin deposition, which leads to an inflammatory cell cascade, characterized by neutrophils, macrophages and lymphocytes within the damaged tissues. This is followed by migration and synthesis of fibroblasts and collagen deposition, and finally remodeling by collagen cross-linking and scar maturation. Despite this orderly sequence of events responsible for normal wound healing, abnormal responses leading to fibrosis or chronic ulcers may occur if any part of the healing sequence is altered.
A new biological scar treatment is a promising solution for your skin blemishes. Follow these links to learn all about this biological method to prevent and treat blemishes.
- Abigail Mckenzee
