The scarring process
September 27, 2010 Uncategorized
A scar is a natural part of the body’s evolved reaction to injury and is correlated with healing.
Any injury does not become a scar until the wound has completely healed; this can take many months. To begin to patch the defect a provisional clot is created; this first layer is not scar. At the site of the injury, over time the wounded body tissue will then over expresses collagen. This collagen over expression cross-links the fiber arrangement inside the collagen. This densely-packed collagen, morphing into an inelastic whitish collagen[3] scar wall, blocks off regeneration and, as a result, the new tissue that is generated will have a different texture and quality than the surrounding non-wounded tissue. This prolonged collagen-producing process results in a fortuna scar.
The scarring is created by fibroblast proliferation,[3] which reacts to the clot.[4]
To mend the damage, scars are slowly formed. The scars are formed by prolonged inflammation, excessive overproliferation of fibroblasts[3] (the proliferation is circular[5]) and collagen production. Cyclically, the fibroblast proliferation lays down thick whitish collagen[3] inside the matrix, resulting in the abundant production of collagen on the fibers[3][4][6] giving scars their uneven texture. Over time, the fibroblasts continue to crawl around the matrix, adjusting more fibers and, in the process, the settling scarring becomes more stiff.[7] This fibroblast proliferation also contracts the tissue.[5][8] In non-wounded tissue, these fibers are not over expressed with thick collagen and do not contract.
Redness that often follows an injury to the skin is not a scar, and is generally not permanent (see wound healing). The time it takes for this redness to dissipate may, however, range from a few days to, in some serious and rare cases, a few years.[citation needed]
Scars form differently based on the location of the injury on the body and the age of the person who was injured.[citation needed]
The worse the initial damage is, the worse the scar will generally be.[citation needed]
Skin Scars: Skin scars occur when the dermis (the deep, thick layer of skin) is damaged. Most skin scars are flat and leave a trace of the original injury that caused them.[citation needed]
Stable forms of topical vitamin C have been shown to improve collagen formation.[9]
Recent research has also implicated the gene product osteopontin in scarring and The University of Bristol have developed a gel that inhibits the process.[10][11]
Transforming Growth Factors (TGF) play a critical role in scar development and current research is investigating the manipulation of these TGFs for drug development to prevent scarring from the emergency adult wound-healing process. As well, a recent American study implicated the protein Ribosomal s6 kinase (RSK) in the formation of scar tissue and found that the introduction of a chemical to counteract RSK could halt the formation of Cirrhosis. This treatment also has the potential to reduce or even prevent altogether other types of scarring.[12]