Re: Q on scar tissue? Do unborn babies scar?

From: J Moore (anthrosciguy_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 08/22/04 

Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 23:44:34 +0000 (UTC)

Tim Tyler <tim@tt1lock.org> wrote in message
news:cfvpme$2l50$1@darwin.ediacara.org...
> sef <st_ev_fe@hotmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>
> > Here is a question I don't know the answer to.
> >
> > What is the point of scar tissue? It is less strong thatn normal
> > tissue, it doesn't breath air or water and so doesn't fill the purpose
> > of normal skin. So why have it? Why doesn't the body heal properly?
>
> It doesn't do *too* bad a job - considering it is working under time
> pressure and budget constraints - and is working with a team that
> has to be able to fix a huge range of possible problems.
>
> > I've heard that unlike adults unborn babies don't scar when cut, is
> > this true? Does it last until some days/weeks after being born?
>
> Such scars fade. My abdomen was incised when I was a young child (<1yo) -
> but now the scar is exactly the same colour as the surrounding flesh,
> and is - to all intents and purposes - invisible.
> --
> __________
> |im |yler http://timtyler.org/ tim@tt1lock.org Remove lock to reply.

The degree to which scarring occurs also varies quite a lot from individual
to individual, and from one age to another. For instance, I used to not get
permanent scars at all, despite cuts, scrapes, some rather severe (like the
fall from a motorcycle onto a rough asphalt road that scraped off a large
(maybe 3" by 6") area of skin on my right thigh -- it can't be seen now at
all, and neither can the others. OTOH, I had a friend who scarred easily --
interestingly, possibly related, was the fact that he wasn't susceptible to
sunburn at all while I was very susceptible). But I also found that
starting sometime in my late 40s cuts and scrapes would produce permanent
scars for me. So, beware of absolute statements about scarring, I guess. :) 

--
JMoore

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