Did you know that skin is the largest organ of your body? Besides being the main barrier between you and the scary outside world, it also performs several other functions that you may not know about. It protects against dehydration by keeping fluids contained in your body instead of seeping out. It helps prevent you from overheating by releasing sweat under hot conditions. It gives you a sense of touch and a way to gauge temperature. It contains immune cells that fight bacteria and other harmful things that try to enter your body. And it takes the blunt of UV ray damage so that your important inside organs don’t have to. It’s like a force of security officers patrolling the outside of a high security building; any breach to this first line of defense leaves the inside vulnerable to attack.
That’s why burns, cuts, wounds, and skin tears are more dangerous than you might think; they provide a direct route to wreak havoc on the inside of your body. Any injury to your skin should be monitored to make sure that it is healing and that no signs of infection are developing. These would include pus, an increasing area of redness or swelling, worsening pain, or the development of a fever. So, if I have a wound and I want to quicken the healing time so that these complications don’t happen, is there anything I can do besides wait around and watch it? Of course!
The simplest factor in wound healing and honestly the one that will make a world of difference is your diet. If you think about it, in order for your wound to heal, your body has to create new tissue to replace what was lost. Your body can't produce new tissue out of thin air, so where do the materials come from? The food you eat! The most important categories to think about for your skin are protein, carbohydrates, zinc, and vitamins A and C.
If you remember one thing from this, let it be that protein = healing. Collagen is a fibrous structure that makes up connective tissue throughout your body, and complex webs of collagen are what give your skin the pliability and structure it needs to do its job. Collagen is made up of protein. A lot of my patients in the hospital with slow-healing wounds are prescribed daily nutrition powders containing a high concentration of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. But assuming that you are healthy enough to consume a diet on your own, you can gain plenty of protein from your food intake! Red and white meats, dairy products, and eggs are all great sources.
Carbohydrates are important for skin healing because they are the energy source most frequently used by your body. They can be converted into energy as soon as they are ingested. If your body is putting all that work into turning the building blocks of protein into collagen, it is going to need a healthy supply of energy to do so!
Zinc is a trace element that assists in making collagen as well, and it can usually be found in meats and dairy products. Vitamin C strengthens your body's ability to attack infections and helps with creating new blood vessels (which supply your wounded skin with materials for making new collagen). It can be found in many fruits and vegetables, but most commonly in citruses. Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin that increases the inflammatory response in wounds to help your body funnel it the correct resources for healing. This is found commonly in whole fat dairy products and dark green vegetables.
Something else to note is that if your injury is a burn requires an extra consideration. A burn caused by heat or friction may remove the outer layers of your skin, leaving no barrier to keep extra fluid inside your body. That's why more serious burns tend to constantly leak fluid. If it's a big enough area of skin, this can lead to some pretty serious dehydration!
So what do we do when we have a burn? Drink more water! And what do we do when we have a slow-healing wound? Pay attention to the materials in your foods! Happy healing :)
Author: Cara Graham
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