How Do Cuts and Scratches Heal?
After getting a cut, scratch, or abrasion, your skin may start bleeding. This happens because the injury breaks or tears the tiny blood vessels that live right under the skin’s surface. Your body wants to stop the bleeding so the platelets (say: plate-lutz) in your blood come to the rescue. At the site of a wound (say: woond), which is another word for injury, platelets stick together, like glue. This is called clotting, which works like a plug to keep blood and other fluids from leaking out. A scab, a hardened and dried clot, forms a crust over the wound. This protects the area so the cells underneath can have time to heal. Underneath the scab, new skin cells multiply to repair the wound. Damaged blood vessels are repaired, and infection-fighting white blood cells attack any germs that may have gotten into the wound. You can’t see it under the scab, but a new layer of skin is forming. And when the new skin is ready, the scab falls off. A scab usually falls off within a week or 2. If y
