Do you have any scars? The body’s primary defense mechanism and largest organ is the skin. Any breach in the skin’s integrity can allow bacteria and infection into the body, alter the body’s ability to regulate temperature and water storage, and it usually hurts. The skin is a very sensitive organ.
Any cut, tear, wound results in an influx of parts of the immune system to start healing the wound.
If the wound is small enough, the skin on either side of the cut can rejoin, sometimes without even a scar.
If the wound is larger, the gap is too big to allow the two sides of the skin to reattach. In that case, granulation tissue forms to fill the gap. New small blood vessels grow in to the area, fibrin ‘scaffolding forms’ and cells build in around the fibrin. Then, more small blood vessels are formed, more fibrin ‘scaffolding’ forms, and more cell fill in the area. This continues until the whole space is filled with granulation tissue. This appears as a scar. The space where the wound left a gap that was filled with granulation tissue is noticeable. That skin will not be or look the same. Granulation tissue contains fewer cells and blood vessels compared to normal skin. And, it is only 60-85% as strong as normal tissue.
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