Simple Solutions for Minor Mishaps

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An estimated 80 percent of minor injuries occur at home. Fortunately, most can also be treated effectively at home with a comforting combination of first aid and natural remedies.

The Skinny on Your Skin

Minor wounds break the integrity of the skin, the body’s largest organ. The skin has two layers — the epidermis and the dermis. The epidermis is the skin you see, the thin layer (about five cells deep) that’s in direct contact with the environment. The epidermis sheds cells constantly, without causing wounds because it has no blood supply. New cells from the underlying dermis quickly replace cells lost to shedding. The epidermis is also host to millions of bacteria and other microorganisms. Ordinarily, these residents cause no problems, but that can change quickly when you suffer a minor wound.

Beneath the epidermis is the dermis, which contains a rich blood supply — the reason minor wounds bleed so much; millions of nerve endings — the reason wounds hurt; and the connective tissue (collagen) that holds the skin together and gives it elasticity.

When a wound tears the dermis, microorganisms from the epidermis invade and threaten infection. The immune system goes to work to close the breach and kill the germs. Blood vessels around the wound dilate and extra blood rushes into the area, rinsing the wound and cleaning it. The extra blood also carries a small army of white blood cells that attack infection-causing microorganisms. This process causes inflammation — swelling, redness and pain around the wound. Cells injured by the wound die, but before they expire, they release a protein that triggers blood clotting (thromboplastin), which eventually forms a scab that closes the wound.

After about 24 hours, other white blood cells release proteins that stimulate the repair of injured blood vessels and the creation of new skin cells and collagen. Sometimes the process is less than perfect, and collagen forms where you should have skin. The result is a scar.

If a wound gets infected, pain and inflammation persist or increase, and after a few days, a creamy yellowish fluid, known as pus, may ooze from your scab. Pus is made up of dead bacteria and white blood cells.

“C” Yourself Heal

No matter what kind of wound you have, according to studies dating back to the 1930s, vitamin C can help. Low blood levels of vitamin C slow healing, while high levels speed formation of new skin cells and collagen, according to Melvyn Werbach, a medical doctor and assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles.

More recent research has confirmed these effects. In a 1996 study, British researchers gave bedsore sufferers standard care plus either a placebo or vitamin C (500 mg twice daily). After one month, the sores’ average areas shrank by 43 percent in the placebo group and 84 percent in the vitamin group.

New York City - based nutritionist Shari Lieberman, co-author of The Real Vitamin and Mineral Book (Avery, 1997), suggests taking even more vitamin C — 5,000 to 10,000 mg per day if you have a large wound or burn. Note: Large doses of vitamin C can cause diarrhea. If this occurs, reduce your dose.

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