Do cuts and burns tend to heal quicker on certain parts of the body than elsewhere?

Yes. The inside of your mouth is one of the fastest healing areas of your body. Not sure about shoulder vs. face.

@JLeslie Why is that?

@MRSHINYSHOES I don’t know. I guess maybe the mucous membranes heal faster than skin? Think about it, if you burn your mouth, usually by the next day you don’t know you did it. Ifnyou burn your hand, you can still tell. But, I am not only going by subjective observation, I remember neing told it once, I think it is medically true. Although I am not 100%. I know I once split the “skin” about 1 inch long on the outer labia of my vulva (sorry to be graphic) and that is mucous membrane also, and it healed very fast. Much faster than if I had a one inch cut on my arm, that would need to scab probably and take several days to heal completely.

Maybe it has to do with how much the area moves? Or how forcefully? Shoulders don’t seem to have as much ‘slack’ in the skin as the face does, so I’m thinking that the big, muscle-y movements of the shoulder exert greater force on the tighter skin.

Also maybe how dry or oily or moist the area is. Wound care usually recommends keeping an area moist with ointment I think. Another thing is maybe how much bacteria is in the area. Neosporin claims cut heal faster with their product, but it is not clear to me if it is the ointment or the antibacterial agent? All guesses on my part.

Arm burns tend to last me a week or two, depending on size. I’ll go lick the rotisserie plates in the oven at work and get back to you with comparisons. Knuckle scrapes take about a week to go away entirely, while arm scratches only need a few days.

One major factor is the blood supply to a given area. Three major steps in wound healing—collagen formation, angiogenesis and epithelialization—require a good oxygen supply. Oxygen is carried to the wound site by blood, but some parts of the skin are more generously serviced by capillaries than other parts. Fingertips have a dense capillary network, the scalp has a sparse network. I once had a scalp cut that took months to heal for this reason.

Your mouth, eyes, and face heal the fastest.

I was going to say what @augustlan said. I’ve been trying to heal up a deep abdominal wound for almost four months now. It’s hard to say if it would be as difficult elsewhere, but I get the sense that all the motion in that area (even little things like my bladder getting full and pushing outward) have periodically undone some of the healing. What a pain.

Hope your shoulder’s okay, @MRSHINYSHOES. Dunno if this question is relevant for the present or not.

@Mariah were you stabbed or something? That sounds like a strange wound.

Age has a lot of effect on healing, my great grandma had a gash on her leg for 3–4 years that just wouldn’t heal.

@cheebdragon Surgical incision came open. Shoulda left those damn staples in for another week.

I burned the hell out of my leg on some hot coffee I split a week and a half ago. Its still disgusting.burns on my arms have seemed to heal more quickly

Is your mouth the fastest part of your body that heals because of the enzymes/certain friendly bacteria etc.. in it, I always thought that is the reason we automatically put a cut finger in our mouths?? I’m not a medical expert, perhaps this is an old wives tale??

I think @thorninmud‘s response is on the mark, and @augustlan‘s observation about movement ties right in. Exercise increases blood flow, and blood flow promotes healing.

My hand therapist keeps reminding me not only to exercise my hand and wrist to aid healing of the fracture but also to avoid leaning on my elbow because it reduces blood flow. He doesn’t even want me to sleep with my elbow bent if I can avoid it.

I agree that the parts of the body that move a lot and therefore have higher priority, blood supply-wise, heal faster. I’ve had facial trauma heal in days, a boiling oil incident on my hand took a few months and a couple of fatty tissue punctures that took over a year to heal.