How Skin Heals from Cuts

By Dr. Josh Zeichner | Sunday, July 31, 2011

The skin undergoes an organized set of steps to heal from wounds.

When you first get a cut, your blood vessels dilate, causing redness and inflammation. Special blood cells called platelets arrive on the scene to help form the initial plug that stops bleeding. A full clot develops thereafter, creating a scaffold for the skin to later heal over. Within hours of the cut, cells from surrounding skin and hair follicles move into the area of the wound as it heals over, or “epithelializes.” During this process, the body forms new blood vessels and lays down new collagen, which may take a few days.

Small skin nicks should heal well (and inconspicuously), but larger cuts may result in a perceivable scar. Have you found that even small cuts can result in noticeable skin marks? Interestingly enough, some people are actually predisposed to scaring -- you might be one of them!

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