If all of our cells die and new ones replace them, then why do we keep some scars for all our lives?

Scar tissue initially forms anywhere just to stop bleeding. For random reasons that tissue stays because well, it’s doing the job of being a protectant form of skin.

Scarring causes a fundamental change in the protein scaffolding that gives skin its structure. The “fabric” of the skin is a network of protein fibers (collagen) that has a random orientation. This network is not composed of cells, but provides the structural foundation of the skin. When scar tissue forms, this collagen network reforms with more fibers, and the fibers have a linear rather than a random orientation. All future skin cells that form on this new collagen scaffolding will reflect that new structure.

“Though both scar tissue and normal skin are made with these collagen proteins, they look different because of the way the collagen is arranged. In regular skin, the collagen proteins overlap in many random directions, but in scar tissue, they generally align in one direction. This makes the scar have a different texture than the surrounding skin. Scar tissue is also not as flexible as normal skin, and does not have a normal blood supply, sweat glands, or hair.”

Wose geek

@marinelife Great article but it still makes me wonder why ordinary cells don’t replace the scar tissue. Unless its that the scar tissue never dies like the way an ordinary cell would. It still seems weird.

The scar is in the skin. But then we get new skin cells. So as @marinelife was saying, the scar won’t disappear completely because the collagen proteins go in one direction so it’s hard for the cells to overlap and erase all of the scar.

@Pandora I think that once the scar cells are in place, the replacement cell simply exactly replicates the cell it is replacing.

Yes @marinelife ^^^ is correct. This is why wrinkles don’t leave, also. The new cells are like photo-copies of the old cells.

This q is very interesting because I just did a laser treatment to reduce wrinkles, and now I feel like it turned my wrinkles into scars and I am not happy. The laser is supposed to affect collagen.

@SpatzieLover I just figured that wrinkles get reproduced the same way simply because collagen reduces and blood supply weakens and over all that new cell production starts to slow down and fail, plus gravity. I mean, I understand that enviromental factors also play a role and ones over all health but its weird that the new scar cells step in and even after the job is done that it sticks around repoducing the same exact cell instead of making new cells that were more like the ones it reproduced.
I hope you got that. It sounds a bit confusing.
But I get what your saying. It just seems weird that some scars can manage not to have cells replicate and some scars totally or almost totally disappear and normal skin cells take its place.
This is interesting. Now I wish I was a scientist who could experiment with cell reproduction. ; /
@JLeslie Are you olived skinned. Olive skinned to dark skin people, tend to scar easily. I would think your doctor would’ve given you some creams to keep the tissue from scarring.

@Pandora The palest of pale white skin. I think other people would not think it looks scarred, but I feel like now the wrinkles in my neck and chest don’t move nor dissappear during the day like they used to, and one on my neck looks worse than it ever did. It’s like they have been permanently set. On my face I see a new set of a bunch of fine lines that kind of freak me out, but I put my brain into denial about it, ignore it as much as possible. It seems possible if I did more treatments they would erase more, but the reason I chose this laser was because I was told I can just do 2 or 3 treatments (usually it takes 5 or 6 for “desired” results) which was a selling point to me because I did not want to erase all my lines. I hate when people look very pealed, or completely line free when they are 40+ years. The pealed skin bothers me most, like their whole natural top layer of skin is gone, I find it very very odd, especially on men.

Anyway, I am afraid to do more with that laser at this point. I wish I had not done anything.

I’m thinking maybe she should have asked me if I have any keloid scars? I do have one. I had used that same laser for hair removal and it was awesome! But the setting is different for the skin rejuvination.

I went to a dinner party a couple nights ago, and started talking to a couple women about my laser treatment. I said I was not very happy with it, and that now my wrinkles look like…and one of the other women interrupted me and said, “scars.” I said, “yes, how did you know I was going to say that?” Her reply, “because that is what happened to me.”

I had noticed several months ago she looked more wrinkled to me, I had never noticed her age before. She did the laser to primarily remove sun damage, discoloration. It was a dufferent laser than mine. She also is very very pale white skin. I think what happened to me is actually how the laser works. People who do the full 5 or 6 wind up with very few winkles probably, the wrinkles get smoothed, but then they look like they had work done. No one explained the steps in between, and the people who do the cosmetic work, the doctors and nurses, are probably warped in their view of what looks good and normal.