Scar Treatment - Phases For Maturation Of Scars

When an injury appears a movement of different cells starts immediately and the complex healing mechanism begins in the exact moment it happens.

Saying 'complex' doesn't really do justice in conveying the intricately and coordinated level of orchestration that happens between the many cells, organs and products of the defensive system, which do such a wonderful job of keeping our biological, health-filled integrity.

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

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

As the Proliferative stage 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 creating the new matrix needed to recover structure and function of the damaged tissue. Fibroblasts stick to the cables of the provisional fibrin matrix and begin to produce 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 provides strength, stability and structure. Collagen is needed to repair damage and recover anatomic structure and function. If too much collagen is deposited in the damaged site, normal anatomical structure is lost, function is altered and fibrosis appears.

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 an important enzyme, lysyl oxidase, works on the collagen to form stable cross-links. As the collagen matures and turns older, more and more of those intramolecular and intermolecular cross-links are placed in the molecules. This important 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 starts with an orderly process of hemostasis and fibrin accumulation, which leads to an inflammatory cell cascade, recognized by neutrophils, macrophages and lymphocytes within the tissue. This is followed by attraction and production of fibroblasts and collagen accumulation, and finally remodeling by collagen cross-linking and scar maturation.