A closer look at wound infections and healing

Wound healing is a physiological process that involves several successive and often overlapping phases that lead to the restoration of the integrity of the skin after an injury, accident or surgery: haemostasis and inflammation, proliferation and remodeling. The interruption or slowing down of these processes can cause abnormal or impaired wound healing. There are now numerous data and clinical studies that highlight the roles of estrogens on normal cutaneous homeostasis and wound healing. In postmenopausal women, for example, the reduced speed of wound healing processes has been clearly related to estrogen deficiency, especially in relation to inflammation and re-granulation, while treatment with exogenous estrogens can reverse these effects. We report here on the complex role of estrogens and estrogenic derivatives in wound healing process, with a focus on their therapeutic use, and on which strategies have been explored to find substances with poor systemic effects.