posted
Believe it or not, before now I have never had an injury that required stitches or a butterfly bandage. (Nor has anyone else in my family.) I must lead a charmed life. Either that or I don't take enough risks.
Anyway, on Friday I sliced deep into the tip of my index finger with a knife. I have never cut myself that deep. I have kept a sort of bandage on it on and off (especially at first, it just would keep reopening and bleeding) but I'd keep removing it because it would get wet often in the course of a day.
Porter said maybe I should put a butterfly bandage on it. So I bought some today and am now wearing one.
But that got me thinking. The two sides of the flesh seem to remain separated when not forced together. It made me think of pierced ears and how when flesh heals separated, it stays that way. Am I too late? Is my finger going to heal in two separate pieces of flesh that will never knit back together? I just have no experience with this!
posted
Healing "by first intention" happens with a clean cut when the edges are opposed and there is good blood supply. There is minimal scar tissue formed. (The scar tissue forms as entwined collagen and other proteins knit across the split from raw flesh to raw flesh, under the scab.)
Healing "by second intention" occurs when there is a large gap between the edges. Here, depending on how much raw flesh is exposed and whether it is in contact with other raw flesh, the edges will either scab over independently under their separate scab or a large scab will form, connecting the two sides and covering over the reknitting process underneath. In this case, though, a lot of scar tissue will form to bridge the gap.
Ah -- I reread and figured out that I actually hadn't answered the question you asked. The less you disturb it (e.g., by allowing the flesh to separate again), the better the healing. So long as the flesh edges are still raw and bloody/weepy, though, they should manage to get reknit. Mind you, re-epithelialization (covering with new "outside skin" cells) begins almost immediately, so it's worth keeping the edges together from here on out. On the other hand, just having some stickiness of the tissue left is encouraging. The regular texture of the tissue can make for fusion bands between the labia in the genitalia of infants / small girls (not much estrogen) and in the gut after just having been touched during an abdominal operation. Flesh likes to fuse.
posted
Hmmmm. At first there was a scab knitting the two sides together, but that kept tearing back open. Right now it looks like an narrow, yet empty, chasm with a line of red visible at the bottom. But this might be because the skin on the tip of my fingers is thick, covered by a callous from playing the mandolin. (This is the hand that presses down on the strings.)
Perhaps the "live skin" will be just fine and a new, complete callous will eventually replace what is there now. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
psst, I thought this thread might relate to me and my middle of the road leanings. Check your title.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote: The regular texture of the tissue can make for fusion bands between the labia in the genitalia of infants / small girls (not much estrogen) and in the gut after just having been touched during an abdominal operation. Flesh likes to fuse.
Huh! This did happen to our youngest a bit. We had to put some hormone cream on it. Poor baby. Our doctor didn't explain it very well, though. Now I understand.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
My guess -- hard to say, as I can't see it -- is that you have some thick callus that absorbed most of the cut. The line of red at the bottom is likely the raw tissue, and that is where it will fuse.
The epithelial layer has a high turnover rate, so you will probably shed the callus part as the deep scab heals over. I bet the edges of the callus will peel slowly back from the center and flake off. Sounds like you probably won't even know it had happened there in a few months.
[It will probably heal from beneath and the upper keratinized (callus) layers that can't fuse (not living tissue, no blood supply) will be sloughed off in due time -- leaving a fresh, fused line of skin.]
posted
Estrogen "matures" the mucous membrane so that fusion is less likely. Menstruating women have high enough levels of circulating estrogen that this usually isn't a problem. Prepubertal and postmenopausal women sometimes have to apply a local cream to "mature" the membranes and decrease the atrophy that encourages fusion.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Sara, you are probably right. Thank you, I feel *much* better. This was just a silly little thing after all.
quote: Prepubertal and postmenopausal women sometimes have to apply a local cream to "mature" the membranes and decrease the atrophy that encourages fusion.
Eek! That sounds sooooo unpleasant. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
]![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Our doctor didn't explain it very well, though. Now I understand.
