For the longest time, I thought “scar” covered everything: the dry brown thing, the pink mark underneath, all of it. Do not laugh at me, as I did not learn pathology at that time, and I’m not a native English speaker.
Then I read a sentence about “reducing scarring, edema, and crusting” and got confused. Why put crusting and scarring together? Aren’t they the same thing at different stages?
It turns out to be no. I had been using “scar” as a lazy umbrella term.
Crust vs. Scar – A Quick Comparison
- Dried blood clot & serum
- Forms in minutes
- Temporary
- To protect
- No permanent tissue change
- Reorganized collagen fibers
- Forms over weeks/months
- Permanent
- To repair
- Altered structure
My “Aha” Moment
I used to see a scab, think “that’s the beginning of a scar”, and mentally merge them.
At that time I realized, You can get rid of the crust, but the scar will stay. They are totally not the same thing.
And that sentence makes perfect sense now: the material reduces early crusting, swelling, and late scarring. By suppressing early crusting, it lowers the chances of the material tearing or ripping the new wound, which could cause re-bleeding. As protective as a crust is for the body, it simply doesn’t work well when a filler material is packed into the wound. Haha.