Erin Allman-Updike

Very often they don't in the case of burns, and we'll get to why that is.

But the second thing that's going to happen is inflammation.

And this is to bring helpers to the area in order to start the repair process.

The third step is proliferation.

We need to start making new cells to fill in the gaps that are left by this wound.

And finally, we have maturation or remodeling.

That's the finishing up that is really scar formation because our skin pretty much always heals by scarring.

So in the event of a burn, our body is going to attempt to heal by this similar process.

However, because of some specific things that happen, especially in the case of a thermal burn, so a heat-related burn.

as well as the potential for a very large portion of our skin to be affected, the end result is often a pretty dysregulated body response that can be really severe.

So unlike, say, a cut or a scrape that just has damage wherever that scrape actually happened, a burned wound actually has several different zones of injury.

In the very center or like where the burn was actually sustained is what's called a zone of coagulation.

You can think of this as not necessarily the deepest part of the burn, but like the part that actually had contact with the hot liquid or the flame or whatever it was that caused the injury.

And in that area, the tissue is dead.

The blood cells are coagulated.

So there's no bleeding in that area because of the strong heat that was applied.

And that tissue in that area cannot be completely salvaged.

Okay.

Okay.

Immediately around this, there is a zone of stasis.