Wk 2 Discussion – Healing Process of a Skin Injury
Discussion Topic
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Reflect on your experience, or maybe that of a family member, after sustaining a skin injury.
- What did you notice about the process of healing the injury?
- What do you think was occurring at the cellular level to cause it to heal that way?
- What was the appearance of the injury after it was fully healed?
- What do you think was occurring at the cellular level to cause it to look that way?
Wk 2 Discussion – Healing Process of a Skin Injury
The healing process of Skin Injury
This is a very recent experience, a few weeks ago, I was making dinner and was slicing a few vegetables with a knife. The knife slipped out of my hands, cutting the tip of my index finger, it was a deep cut. In no time, there was blood everywhere. It was bleeding profusely. It looked like it needed sutures. Cuts more than ½ inch usually need the sutures, in this case, it was not that deep.
Process of Healing
Firstly, the blood stopped after some time, then the blood started clotting around the wound, followed by the process of recovery. The right medication and the wound started healing itself with time. The process of stopping bleeding is known as hemostasis (Budkowska et al. 2019, p.82). The clotting of the blood starts within seconds, based on the depth of the cut. The clotting process helps in closing the wound and in the healing process. The blood vessels gather around the wound to stop the bleeding. The platelets which are the clotting agents in the blood gather around to form a plug-like formation around the clot. Protein fibrin is the coagulation agent that helps the plug to hold on to the wound site forming an inflammation. It is followed by the release of some chemicals that protect the area from bacterial infection and growth-inducing agents to recover the wound. Collagen plays the role of growing new cells to cover up the wound and make the new cells stronger with time.
Pink or red color granulation cells are formed over the wound with the formation of new blood capillaries that provide adequate oxygen indicating the process of healing. Then the skin covers the wound with new epithelial cells.
It took about 2 weeks to completely heal the wounded index finger.
Reference:
Budkowska, M., Lebiecka, A., Marcinowska, Z., Woźniak, J., Jastrzębska, M., & Dołęgowska, B. (2019). The circadian rhythm of selected parameters of the hemostasis system in healthy people. Thrombosis research, 182, 79-88.
