AN AYURVEDIC APPRAISAL ON CONCEPT OF WOUND HEALING MECHANISM

Abstract

Wound healing is a complex phenomenon. Only after defining the specific biologic processes of a particular wound the clinician can formulate a rational treatment. Therefore, a good clinician should have a very clear definition of the mechanism of wound healing. Irrespective of the type of wound and extent of the tissue loss, the healing of every wound is a continuous process. Division of the healing process into phases refers to the fundamental morphological alterations in the course of the repair process without reflecting the actual complexity of the process. The usual division is into four healing phases viz. haemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. It is a complex process requiring the collaborative efforts of a number of different tissues and cell mediators. In Ayurvedic literature particularly in Sushruta Samhita a vast description of etiology, pathogenesis, classification and treatment of the wounds is available. So far as the healing of a wound is concerned detailed clinical features of each phase of healing have been mentioned. Understanding of these features is very important for the successful and uneventful management of the wounds. Even in today's highly sophisticated era when we have a vast knowledge of the mechanism of healing at the cellular level the clinical presentation as described in Ayurvedic literature is of immense value. Critical analysis of the phased mannered features of wound healing described in ancient Indian texts reveals that they still stand true in the present time. This paper is an effort to elaborate and interpret these clinical features of wound healing according to the present day understanding.