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Research health conditions Check your symptoms Prepare for a doctor's visit or test Find the best treatments and procedures for you Explore options for better nutrition and exercise Learn more about the many benefits and features of joining Harvard Health Online ». Sign Me Up. Print This Page Click to Print. Free Healthbeat Signup Get the latest in health news delivered to your inbox! Sign Up. Local anaesthetic will be given before the examination. Removing dead skin surgically.
Local anaesthetic will be given. Closing large wounds with stitches or staples. Dressing the wound. The dressing chosen by your doctor depends on the type and severity of the wound. In most cases of chronic wounds, the doctor will recommend a moist dressing. Relieving pain with medications. Pain can cause the blood vessels to constrict, which slows healing.
If your wound is causing discomfort, tell your doctor. The doctor may suggest that you take over-the-counter drugs such as paracetamol or may prescribe stronger pain-killing medication. Treating signs of infection including pain, pus and fever. The doctor will prescribe antibiotics and antimicrobial dressings if necessary. Take as directed. Reviewing your other medications. Some medications, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids, interfere with the body's healing process.
Tell your doctor about all medications you take including natural medicines or have recently taken. The doctor may change the dose or prescribe other medicines until your wound has healed. Using aids such as support stockings. Use these aids as directed by your doctor. Treating other medical conditions, such as anaemia, that may prevent your wound healing. Prescribing specific antibiotics for wounds caused by Bairnsdale or Buruli ulcers.
Skin grafts may also be needed. Recommending surgery or radiation treatment to remove rodent ulcers a non-invasive skin cancer. Improving the blood supply with vascular surgery, if diabetes or other conditions related to poor blood supply prevent wound healing. Self-care suggestions Be guided by your doctor, but self-care suggestions for slow-healing wounds include: Do not take drugs that interfere with the body's natural healing process if possible. For example, anti-inflammatory drugs such as over-the-counter aspirin will hamper the action of immune system cells.
Ask your doctor for a list of medicines to avoid in the short term. Make sure to eat properly. This holds the new cells together. Any damaged supporting structures of the skin, such as the blood vessels that supply critical oxygen and nutrients, also need to regrow.
The second stage effectively closes the wound and restores a protective barrier against bacteria. The regenerative phase is a relatively quick, but tenuous fix — new skin is fragile. The final remodeling phase plays out over a couple of years as the new skin is progressively strengthened by several parallel processes. The extracellular matrix, which was initially laid down in a haphazard fashion, is broken down and replaced in a more durable way. Any residual cells from prior phases that are no longer needed — such as immune cells or fibroblasts — become inactive or die.
In addition to strengthening the new skin, these collective actions also account for the tendency of scars to visibly fade with time. One major way aging can derail the orderly and efficient progression through the stages of healing is through the health problems that stem from diseases of old age. Diabetes is one example of a disease that is strongly associated with older age. One of the many ways that diabetes negatively affects healing is by causing blood vessels to narrow. As a consequence of inadequate circulation, crucial nutrients and oxygen do not reach the wound in sufficient quantities to fuel the second regenerative phase.
Diabetes is just one of many age-related diseases that disrupts normal processes in the body such as wound healing. Aside from the negative impacts of age-associated diseases, cells themselves age.
Luckily, your skin is remarkably resilient, too, in that it can repair most wounds and heal itself without much external support. Although wound healing is a relatively straightforward process, it can be accelerated, slowed, or otherwise influenced by a variety of factors. Wounds go through three specific stages as they progress through the healing process:. Once initial inflammation subsides, your body enters the second stage of healing: proliferation. During this phase, the wound contracts as your body builds a new network of blood vessels to ensure the area receives enough oxygen and nutrients to support the growth of new, healthy tissues.
Once the surface area is strong, scabs fall away to reveal tighter, newer skin layers that may continue to remodel and rebuild for a year or longer. The type, size, and severity of a wound can affect how quickly it heals — shallow cuts heal more quickly than deep lacerations, clean wounds heal faster than infected ones, and linear wounds tend to improve more quickly than round ones.
A wide range of external physiological factors can also affect wound-healing progression, prolonging or even impeding the process altogether. Five of the most significant factors are:.
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