The 4 Stages of Wound Healing Explained

The human body really is a marvel and this is exemplified in how our bodies regenerate and heal when there’s damage. You cut your finger and, within a week, you can hardly tell that there was a problem thanks to a four-step healing process.

While our example might be minor, this same healing cascade occurs with much larger problems using the same four healing steps.

So, no matter the extent of the damage, so long as your body can cycle through the four stages of healing, you’re in good shape. When it can't, that's when problems arise and our team of wound specialists needs to step in. 

As our name suggests — Foot Ankle Leg Wound Care Orange County —  Dr. Thomas Rambacher and our team specialize in chronic foot, ankle, and leg wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers. What all of these have in common is that the wound healing cascade is stuck, and our mission is to get it moving forward again so that you can avoid serious complications like infections and gangrene.

Here, we take a look at the wound healing cascade, why it doesn’t work as efficiently in some people, and what we can do to kick-start it.

The 4 stages of healing

As we already mentioned, your wound healing cascade is a four-stage process that your body kicks off any time there’s damage. These stages include:

1. Hemostasis

The moment your body registers an open wound, platelets are the first responders as these flat cells can plug holes in your blood vessels to stop the bleeding. 

2. Inflammation

With the bleeding under control, your platelets then release growth factors and cytokines, which regulate inflammation. When your body responds with inflammation, it’s creating an environment that supports healing. This environment relies on blood-borne oxygen and macrophages, which are white blood cells that fight infection and protect your wound.

3. Cell proliferation

While white blood cells fight infection, your red blood cells are creating the call for new cells and collagen (scar tissue) to rebuild damaged tissue.

4. Strengthening and remodeling

This is the last stage during which your body makes sure that the new cells and fibers around your wound reach their final strength. 

While timelines differ depending upon the extent of the damage, it’s important that these stages follow one after the other to keep the healing moving forward.

When healing stalls

There are many reasons why people can run into issues with healing and most have to do with blood flow. Your blood is essential to the healing process as it delivers all the resources your wound needs to heal.

Unfortunately, millions of Americans have conditions that can compromise blood flow, especially to places like your lower extremities, thanks to:

• Diabetes, which affect more than 38 million adults in the United States
• Peripheral artery disease (PAD), which affects 12 million American adults
• Age
• Having obesity, which affects more than 42% of adults in the US
• Smoking

With these conditions, healing can stall in the first two stages thanks to insufficient blood flow and your body can become overwhelmed by infection-causing bacteria. This bacteria can invade the wound and wreak havoc, eventually leading to necrosis and gangrene, which is the death of hard and soft tissues.

Getting healing on the right track

As you might imagine, our job as wound specialists is to get healing back on track and we have many tools that accomplish this. From prescription wound care products to more advanced procedures like skin grafting and flap reconstruction, we can step in where your body’s healing system falls short to help move the healing process along.

If you have more questions about healing or you suspect that you have a wound that isn’t following the four stages, we urge you to come see us as soon as possible. To get that ball rolling, please call our office in Mission Viejo, California, at 949-832-6018 or request an appointment online today.