How does your skin heal itself after a cut?

When you get a cut, your body immediately triggers a clotting response. Platelets rush to the wound and clump together, forming a plug, while proteins like fibrin create a mesh that hardens into a scab to stop bleeding and seal the opening. Beneath the scab, white blood cells arrive to fight bacteria and clean up debris. Then fibroblast cells begin producing collagen, a structural protein that rebuilds the damaged tissue. New blood vessels form to supply nutrients to the healing area. Over days and weeks, the skin regenerates through cell division, with new skin cells migrating across the wound. The scab eventually falls off once the underlying tissue is repaired, though deeper cuts may leave a scar where collagen was laid down densely.