Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Genel Cerrahi Anabilim Dalı- ANKARA Wound healing is the result of a cascade of complex biochemical reactions incited by injury. Wound healing consists of three separate but overlapping phases defined as hemostasis and inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. Impairment in one of these phases adversely effects the wound healing. in accordance with the physiologic changes of the aging process, the phases of wound healing are also effected. Studies on this subject yielded contradictory results. General notion is that there is no clinically significant impairment in wound healing in the elderly, unless there are coexisting chronic diseases. Burn wounds in the elderly are an exception to this notion. Keywords : Elderly, wound healing, surgery