Cellular and biochemical aspects of normal and abnormal wound healing: an overview.

We can look at tissue injury as if a picket fence were damaged by the process of trauma. A fetus has the capability to repair the fence so that it is almost identical to what it was before the injury. In contrast, in adults the wound healing response can normally put the fence back together so that it is still functional, although its appearance may not be optimal. In the case of a hypertrophic scar too many pickets have been replaced in the fence, and neither the function nor the appearance is optimal. Perhaps when we understand the process by which the fetus heals and hypertrophic scars over heal, we can apply this information to some of the complex problems seen in such conditions as Peyronie's disease and Dupuytren's contracture.