Aging Skin and Wound Healing

Abstract

Responsible for many essential functions of life, human skin is made up of many components, each of which undergoes significant functional changes with aging and photodamage. Wound healing was previously thought to be defective in the elderly given the higher presence of chronic wounds and the longer time required for re-epithelialization of acute wounds. However, these notions have been challenged in recent research, which has shown that wound healing in the elderly is delayed but not defective. Poor healing of chronic wounds in older populations is more often attributable to comorbid conditions rather than age alone.

Keywords: Aging; Chronic wounds; Photoaging; Skin function; Skin structure; Wound healing.