Causes Of Scar Appearance

When an injury occurs a migration of different cells begins instantly and the complex healing process initiates in the exact moment it happens.

Saying 'complex' doesn't really do justice in conveying the intricately and coordinated level of orchestration that occurs between the many cells, organs and products of the immune system, which do such a masterful job of maintaining our natural, health-filled integrity.

Platelets and inflammatory cells are the first cells to migrate to the site of injury and they provide key functions and 'signals' needed for the influx of connective tissue cells and a renovated blood supply. This phase is named inflammatory phase. The signs have been well known since ancient times: tumor (swelling), calor (heat), rubor (redness) and dolor (pain).

The appearance of wound macrophages is a marker that the inflammatory phase is nearing an end and the proliferative phase is beginning. Lymphocytes (white blood cells that aid the body and fight infection) come into the wound area at a later stage.

As the Proliferative phase progresses the predominant cell in the wound site is the fibroblast. These cells born in the mesoderm that creates the connective tissue of the body, blood vessels and lymph vessels, and is responsible for producing the new matrix needed to recover structure and function of the injured tissue. Fibroblasts stick to the cables of the provisional fibrin matrix and start to synthesize collagen.

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the animal kingdom, accounting for 30% of the total protein in the human body. In healthy tissues collagen ensures strength, stability and structure. Collagen is needed to repair damage and recover anatomic structure and function. If too much collagen is gathered in the damaged site, normal anatomical structure is lost, function is compromised and fibrosis occurs.

The collagen released into the extracellular space undergoes further processing by opening of the procollagen N and C-terminal peptides. In the extra-cellular spaces a crucial enzyme, lysyl oxidase, works on the collagen to create stable cross-links. As the collagen stabilizes and turns older, more and more of those intramolecular and intermolecular cross-links are established in the molecules. This crucial cross-linking step gives collagen its strength and stability over time. Any form of natural scar treatment helps aid and assist normal tissue renewal

In summary, the healthy scar healing cascade begins with an orderly process of hemostasis and fibrin deposition, which leads to an inflammatory cell cascade, characterized by neutrophils, macrophages and lymphocytes within the tissue. This is followed by attraction and production of fibroblasts and collagen deposition, and finally remodeling by collagen cross-linking and scar maturation.