Why You Choose Scabs and How Not To
You know you shouldn’t pick up the scab (right ??). However, it turns out that the real professional move is to avoid them in the first place, so by the time you sit back, masterly avoiding taking your last scab, you’ve already ruined everything.
“The best scab is no scab,” says Dr. Thomas Rohrer , board-certified dermatologist surgeon and American Academy of Dermatology Fellow practicing at SkinCare Physician in Massachusetts. “Try to prevent them from forming.”
Where do scabs come from
Let’s say you ate some of the sidewalk while jogging in the park and your knee looks like a crime scene. In addition to blood, the wound will secrete other mucous substances such as growth factors, fibroblasts and new skin matrix, which Dr. Rohrer says is an attempt at wound healing.
“If you just let it be, it dries up and isolates it, which is good because it isolates it from the environment,” says Rohrer, “but it actually slows down healing.” When a wound dries up and turns into a scab, he said, new skin should form underneath, which increases the likelihood of a depressed scar forming.
Scabs exist for the formation of a clot that stops bleeding and serves as a protective barrier for the new forms of the skin, – says Dr. Mark Glashofer certified dermatologist and surgeon for the treatment of skin cancer and a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, practicing in northern New Jersey. with a dermatology group.
How to prevent them
Instead of leaving a scab on the wound after you cut, clean it and cover it with a simple ointment to keep it juicy, then bandage it. Rohrer loves Vaseline or Aquaphor – drug-free neutral barriers.
“The key is to keep it moist, but not too wet,” says Rohrer. “You don’t want it to become liquid.”
Shiver.
Glashofer also advises keeping the wound moist, no matter what Mom says about releasing air from the wound. “This old adage is false and slows down the healing process and may also increase the likelihood of a more visible scar.”
Contrary to what is definitely in your medicine cabinet or medicine cabinet, you shouldn’t add a triple antibiotic like neosporin. Rohrer says these beloved medications are actually top suspects when it comes to skin allergies or irritations.
Glashofer says wounds in smokers and diabetics heal more slowly, and for everyone, they take longer to heal with age. Wounds below the body heal more slowly than wounds on the face and neck.
Why we choose
What about this extreme temptation, the hideous habit of scavengers everywhere? Why should we choose?
“I think the standard answer will be because there is one,” says Rohrer. “We are used to the fact that our skin is smooth. You want to bring it back to its natural state. “
Glashofer explains that as the wound heals, inflammatory cells appear that help fight off potential microorganisms and foreign material. Those, coupled with the drying out of the crust, cause itching.
Picking up or removing the scab will take a longer healing process, he says, and may increase the chances of recovery with a more visible scar.