Wound Healing and Aging

Although all of the stages of wound healing differ with age, the changes are qualitative. Events begin later, proceed more slowly, and often do not reach the same level. However, there are neither new events nor an absence of expected events. This is clearly evident by the ease with which the most radical elective surgical wounds heal in the elderly patient. The ability of the aged to heal so well illustrates, therefore, not that their healing processes are equal to those of the young, but rather that our healing capacity is far in excess of what is needed.