Old Skin Scars Less, Gene Study Shows Why

We all stand the risk of accumulating scars throughout our lifetimes, but curiously, in old age, the likelihood that a wound will leave a thick, ugly scar is much reduced. How older skin is advantaged has been unclear, even though dermatologists and plastic surgeons have consistently observed that older people’s wounds heal with thinner scars. A new study, however, has exposed the role of a blood-borne stromal factor in scarring. The study suggests that suppression of this factor, which is