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Scars are a natural process of healing from wounds, burns and surgery. Scars are formed when the body heals itself. They are made of fibrous tissue which replaces the normal skin and that is why they look different from the normal skin. Hypertrophic scars look different from other scars. They are darker and may be raised but they limit themselves to the area of the wound or burn and don't spread. The scar tissue is different from the normal tissue and is usually of an inferior kind. They are less resistant to ultraviolet rays. There are different kinds and different types of scars. Some are light, others are dark. Some may be sunk into the skin while others may be raised. Every wound leaves a scar so different types of wounds result in different types of scars. When a person recovers from a heart attack, a scar tissue is formed in the heart muscle and this scar does not have any supply of blood vessels leading to loss of muscular power which in turn may lead to heart failure. However there are some tissues which heal without any structural or functional deterioration. Bone tissue is one good example, and in fact can possibly be stronger after a fracture.
Scar tissue also depends a great deal on the skin type. Fair people have more scars, and those with dry skin or oily skin have their own variety of scars. Scars happen when the deep layer of the skin is damaged and if the degree of damage is high then the scar will be worse. Scars are also formed differently depending on the location of the injury and the age of the person. To mend the damage the body has to make new collagen fibers, which are produced by the body. As the body cannot exactly rebuild the tissue as it originally was, the new scar tissue will have a different texture and quality than the surrounding normal tissue. An injury becomes a scar only when the wound has completely healed.
There is a lot of research going on to see if scars can be prevented from forming. It has been learnt that Transforming Growth Factors (TGF) play an important role in the development of scars. Doctors and researchers are trying t manipulate these TGFs to prevent scarring. A protein called ribosomal kinase forms the scars and by introducing a chemical to counteract this protein, there could be a possibility to halt the formation of scar tissues. |
