Wound healing. Comparison of healing rates of burn wounds and of excisional wounds.

The process of healing of skin excisions and skin burns of equal sizes has been compared in rabbits. Excisions heal definitely quicker than burns, despite the fact that the part of the skin exposed to the burning agent does not undergo necrosis. Small excisional wounds heal more rapidly than larger ones but the healing rate of burn wounds in our series was independent of their size. Secondary excision of the burned tissue accelerates the healing process. Thus the healing time of burn wounds seems to depend more on clearing the wounds of the necrotic tissue than on the mere repair of the skin loss.