Modifying the wound healing response with exogenous growth factors.

Growth factors exert a powerful influence over wound healing. They control the growth, differentiation, and metabolism of cells. Although their influence on wound repair has been studied, there are only a few reports in which growth factors applied topically exerted a positive influence on wound repair. However, there is no doubt that they do control the wound environment. It is likely that their actions will be defined further, and the wound environment will be able to be controlled to achieve complete and durable wound healing in patients.