Understanding Wound Healing
Why Some Wounds Get Stuck
Normally, wound healing follows a predictable sequence. Your body signals growth factors like PDGF and EGF, which recruit fibroblasts to lay down new collagen, stimulate angiogenesis (blood vessel formation), and orchestrate epithelialization (new skin growth).
But in chronic wounds—especially diabetic and venous ulcers—this process stalls. High blood glucose damages the nerves that sense injury and the blood vessels that deliver oxygen and nutrients. Venous insufficiency creates a hostile microenvironment with poor drainage and oxygen deprivation. The growth factors get produced, but at insufficient levels or in the wrong timing. Inflammatory cells persist when they should be clearing out. The wound stays stuck in the inflammatory phase.
The result? A ulcer that's open for months or years, vulnerable to infection, and at constant risk of spreading deeper—sometimes ending in amputation.
"Growth factors at 20% of normal levels = a wound that essentially gives up trying to heal."
This is where peptide therapy intervenes directly. Becaplermin (FDA-approved) supplies the missing PDGF. Other peptides address the root problems: recruiting immune cells, stimulating blood vessel formation, accelerating collagen deposition, and creating a healing-promoting microenvironment.