Laura Christin Lewandowski - Clot & Scab: Gross Stuff about Your Scrapes, Bumps, and Bruises

GROSSBODYSCIENCE CLOT&SCAB To Simon, thanks for your unique perspective -Michael Slack Text copyright 2010 by Kristi Lew Illustrations copyright 2010 by Michael Slack All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Millbrook Press A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lew, Kristi.

Clot & scab : gross stuff about your scrapes, bumps, and bruises / by Kristi Lew ; illustrations by Michael Slack. p. cm. (Gross body science) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780822589655 (lib. : alk. paper) 1. paper) 1.

Wound healingJuvenile literature. 2. Wounds and injuriesJuvenile literature. 3. BruisesJuvenile literature. I.

Slack, Michael H., 1969 ill. II. Title. III. Title: Clot and scab. RD94.L49 2010 617.1dc22 2008045626 Manufactured in the United States of America 2 BP 2/1/10

CHAPTER SCRAPES, SCABS, and SCARS Have you ever fallen off your bike and dragged some poor body part along the pavement? YOW! Not only does it hurt like crazy, it looks nasty too.

But dont worry. While you made hamburger out of your knee or elbow, your body got busy repairing the damage. Red blood cells (red), white blood cells(greenish), and platelets (pinkish)swim along inside your blood vessels.

Platelets and other blood cells are made in the squishy tissue that fills the inside of bones. This tissue is called bone marrow. Some people eat bone marrow. They might crack open animal bones and suck the marrow right out of the bone.

Other times, the marrow is cooked first. People say that cooked marrow tastes salty and fatty, sort of like butter. But unlike butter, the marrow has a slimy texture like boogers. YUMMY, pass those bones!

As soon as you rip a hole in your skin, your blood gets to work. It starts by rushing special cells, called platelets, to the point of injury. Platelets are like your bodys glue.

They gather at the place of the wound and make a sticky glob called a CLOT. A clot is like a plug to stop the bleeding. If your blood does not clot, you could bleed to death. Even from something minor, like a scraped knee or an elbow talk about a bad day!

Platelets dont do it alone. As theyre plugging the injury, theyre also sending a shout- out to other chemicals in the body. YO! A LITTLE HELP OVER HERE! The other chemicals theyre calling are clotting proteins.

When those clotting proteins get the signal, they come running to the wounded area. After the clotting proteins arrive, they get right to work. They help the platelets make a web. This web helps to hold the platelet plug in place. Blood cells

Platelets age fast! If a platelet is not used to stop up a cut within ten days after the platelet is made, it dies. get caught in this web too.

When the web dries and hardens, it forms a scab. The blood cells caught in the web give the scab its lovely reddish brown color. Yep, scabs are just a big BLOODY PLUG. But before you get too grossed out, think of it this way: scabs are also your bodys bandages. They protect the new skin thats forming under them. RedbloodcellsgettrappedYoureonyourwaytoabeautifulscab!

To help your body heal the way it is meant to, you have to eat a healthy diet.

To plug up wounds and make new skin, the body needs calcium, vitamin K, and vitamin C. Keeping wounds covered and moist will help them heal faster too. So stop picking at that scab!

SAYING That makes my blood boil! Bloodthirsty Hot- blooded Cold- blooded Bloodbath Blue blood WHAT DOES IT MEAN? That makes me mad! Eager to see violence Someone who gets mad easily Someone who is very cruel or mean A battle with many deaths Having a wealthy or royal background Ah, what could be lovelier than a BIG BLOODY SCAB ? Thankfully, scabs are only temporary. They stick around just long enough to help the healing. By the time your body has stopped the gushing flow of blood, the healing process is well under way. Once a scab forms, your body is already making new skin.

Sometimes when the scab falls off, the new skin looks different from the other skin around it. Thats because its a scar. Heresanice,crustyscab.Itsthefirststepinyourskinshealingprocess.

Checkoutthiskeloidscar!Whenalargecutheals,itcanleaveaflatorpittedscar. Most scars are flat and pale. In other words, BOR-ING! But sometimes scars get quite interesting looking.

Some are raised or bumpy. Those are called keloid. Other scars look like pits or craters in the skin. These sunken scars are most often caused by acne, chicken pox, or ow! surgical cuts. Depending on your point of view, these are either really cool or really gross! Puffy, dented, smooth, or jagged... whatever kind of scars you end up with, youll get to enjoy those beauties for a long time.

Even if they fade over time, theyll probably never totally go away. Actually, it can be pretty fun to compare road rash with your buddies. Youll always have a good story to tell about each one.

Scars dont just look weird. They really are different from the rest of your skin. For example, hair and sweat glands dont grow back.

So if the skin you ripped off had hair on it, the hair is gone for good. That can be kind of a drag, depending on where your scar is. But, on the bright side, youll never sweat from that spot again. (You need sweat glands to sweat I dare you to do it any other way!) Scars are a normal part of healing. Some people think they look awesome. But other people really dont like the way they look.