The Velocity of the Growth of Fibroblasts in the Healing Wound

Certain characteristics of the healing of the simple incised, uncomplicated wound are, of course, familiar to the surgeon, and have been so since his kind first intelligently observed such a wound from day to day. Its edges "agglutinate," or become adherent to each other through the clotting of the blood. The strength of this adhesion is not sufficiently great for the first two or three days but that a minimum strain will separate the edges. If such is likely to occur, it is necessary to reinforce the "agglutination" with sutures. In from five to eight days it has become solidified, when, unless the strain on the wound is unusually great, the reinforcing action of the sutures is no longer necessary and they are removed. In from eight to twelve days, the strength of the wound is such that it meets the ordinary exigencies of daily life, and toward the end