Cutaneous scarring: a clinical review

Cutaneous scarring can cause patients symptoms ranging from the psychological to physical pain. Although the process of normal scarring is well described the ultimate cause of pathological scarring remains unknown. Similarly, exactly how early gestation fetuses can heal scarlessly remains unsolved. These questions are crucial in the search for a preventative or curative antiscarring agent. Such a discovery would be of enormous medical and commercial importance, not least because it may have application in other tissues. In the clinical context the assessment of scars is becoming more sophisticated and new physical, medical and surgical therapies are being introduced. This review aims to summarise some of the recent developments in scarring research for non-specialists and specialists alike.