• Question: How does our blood flow change when we cut ourselves?

    Asked by jessiburt to Kat, Andrew, Katie, Sadaf on 22 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Andrew Swale

      Andrew Swale answered on 22 Jun 2013:

      First comes vasoconstriction — blood vessels leading to the wound tighten to reduce the flow of blood to the injured area

      Platelets (triggered by enzymes leaked from the torn blood vessel) rush to the scene. These sticky blood cells clump to each other and then adhere to the sides of the torn blood vessel, making a plug

      Clotting proteins in the blood join forces to form a fibrin net that holds the platelet plug in place over the tear, and in just a few seconds or minutes (depending on how bad the scrape is), BLEEDING STOPS, thanks to coagulation! The fibrin plug becomes a scab that will eventually fall off or be reabsorbed into the body once healing is complete.

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