Whether you suffer from abrasion, cut, hurt or burnt, your skin must have suffered certain levels of wound in the past, and you surely have experienced itchiness of wounds during the recovery process.

What is the reason? It turns out to be the fault of connective tissues!

First, let’s understand the structure of our skin.

Our skin layers can be classified as epidermis, dermis and hypodermis. When we accidentally hurt our skin, we will go through three phases in the recovery process, which are inflammatory phase, proliferative phase and remodelling phase. All these three phases shall be completed within 1-2 weeks to allow the wound to be healed. If the cut reaches only the surface of skin, the epidermis, and it does not stimulate the nerve, the process of healing and recovery will be faster, there will be no sense of itchiness in the process, neither does it leave any scar on your skin. 
In contrast to this, if the cut goes deeper and it cuts through the dermis, it will bleed immediately and the human body will produce platelets in order to help stop the bleeding. At this time, the nerves of the dermis have already been cut and broken, leading to pain. Connective tissues will be formed during the gradual process of wound recovery, which means there is new tissue growing out from the wound. New tissue is in need of new blood vessels and nerves, as new blood vessels and new nerves are reproduced, they will stimulate one another and gives us a sense of super itchiness! At this moment, you just can’t help but wanting to scratch it off, right?

If you do this, you might scratch the wound carelessly, causing the wound to worsen. This does not only affect the recovery time, but will leave you some scars, and cause infection if it gets worse!
In addition to this, if your wound does not heal in 4 weeks’ time, it means that your wound might become a non-healing wound (chronic wound) because of poor blood circulation. Especially the high-risk groups like smokers, those who have diabetes, high-blood pressure or heart diseases, they have to handle their wounds carefully!

Though there is a sense of itchiness for wounds that are about to be healed, itchiness is not necessarily a sign of wound recovery. You must observe and make sure that it does not swell, experience burning sensation, smell badly or fester to exclude the possibility of inflammatory or infection!

Finally, a gentle reminder to everybody, make sure to always keep your wound clean and change the dressing on time to avoid infection. If you are among the high-risk groups, it is suggested that you go to a clinic and let the professional medical personnel assist in the cleaning and care of your wound. Don’t delay in seeking help to avoid mismanaging of your minor wound so that it will not turn out to be something serious!