Follow the basic skin-care steps for your skin type or skin concern.
Whether it’s a scratch, a paper cut, a scrape, cut, sore, lesion, or a really bad wound that requires stitches, one of the more amazing aspects of skin is its capacity to heal. Damaged skin regenerates and repairs itself. Only in certain circumstances, usually a result of some other illness such as diabetes, is that not true. When skin is injured, a multifaceted and complicated number of reactions take place. Many factors affect how long a wound takes to heal, and the way the wound heals affects how the skin will look, meaning what kind of scar will result. And that’s not to say a scar is a bad thing—rather it’s a sign that the body’s repair system has kicked in so the fissure in your skin, no matter how small or big, closes up and mends.
Basically, skin goes through three fundamental and essential stages of repair. In the first stage, the scab is formed, and it’s almost always accompanied by swelling, redness, and some tenderness or even pain. During the next stage, new skin tissue is formed under the scab. The final stage involves the rebuilding and reforming of the outer and inner layers of skin. Each of these stages of skin repair needs different kinds of help to aid in the healing process. What you do during the first days of a wound versus what you do after the scab has formed, or when the scab eventually comes off, is vital to the final appearance of the skin.
Stage 1, Inflammation. As soon as a cut or break in the skin has occurred, the body begins its job of preventing further injury. Signals are sent out for the blood to begin clotting and to call skin cells in to start protecting the damaged area. While the skin is working on its initial repair response, the immune system is trying to remove any foreign matter or bacteria that may have invaded the injury.
Stage 2, Regrowth. Now the body is busy producing collagen and reforming the substances that constitute the intercellular matrix. Intense collagen growth and the tightening of the surrounding tissue are the reason why we see an edge around a wound while a scab is being formed.
Stage 3, Renewal. With the inflammatory reaction calmed, and after the new skin tissue in the form of a scab and then a scar has been achieved during regrowth, it is time for the skin to focus on returning to normal. As time passes the scar becomes less noticeable and redness decreases. Then the skin texture normalizes, though it may not do so every time.
The way your body goes about this process is genetically determined. Nevertheless, outside influences can also affect the way your skin responds to being injured.