How Wounds Heal

The first thing that happens is that a blood clot forms over the wound.
As well as protecting the wound, the clot contains cells that:

Encourage the cells in the wound to divide
- Making the new cells needed to repair the damage
Form a network of protein fibres over the bed of the wound
- Providing a scaffold for new cells to attach themselves to
- Helping new cells join together to form new skin

For this healing process to succeed, conditions need to be right.

The wound needs to be clean.

If it is dirty or infected the new cells either will not be formed, or will be killed, so the wound will take much longer to heal.

The wound needs to be moist.

If the wound has been allowed to dry out, the cells cannot grow or divide.
If the wound is too wet, the protein network and any new cells may be washed away.