# Healing After 50 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561 "2008-10-12T04:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/1 "2008-10-12T04:25:24Z")
So now that I’m over 50 I notice it takes a long time for cuts and bruises to heal. Is this common? Can I change my diet to heal faster? ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/2 "2008-10-12T04:36:26Z")
You have to grow a Dr. Weil style beard first. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/3 "2008-10-12T05:47:51Z")
One relevant fact: diabetics have a much longer healing time than non-diabetics. I was diagnosed at about your age. When was the last time you had a physical? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/4 "2008-10-12T05:59:10Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > One relevant fact: diabetics have a much longer healing time than non-diabetics. I was diagnosed at about your age. When was the last time you had a physical? Not that long ago, but I was wondering if its time to do a pee test. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/5 "2008-10-12T08:50:58Z")
You should get checked for various health issues periodically anyway. Anyhow - it’s normal for healing to slow down as you age (yeah, get older blows…) but by staying as healthy as you can - good diet, exercise, adequate rest, minimal bad habits - you can maximize your healing potential, and possibly improve from your current situation. Certainly, this would include dealing with any chronic health problem such as diabetes, but by no means limited to just that. So, if there’s room to improve your health you might be able to improve your healing time, but if you’re already pretty darn healthy, well, getting older isn’t for sissies. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/6 "2008-10-12T13:19:12Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > So now that I’m over 50 I notice it takes a long time for cuts and bruises to heal. Is this common? You’re wrong. It’s after _ **40** _. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/7 "2008-10-12T19:25:45Z")
I am 79½, diabetic for 38 years and do not have problems with cuts healing slowly. I control my diabetes with diet and Metformin and my weight is about 150 lbs. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/8 "2008-10-13T09:28:23Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > So now that I’m over 50 I notice it takes a long time for cuts and bruises to heal. Is this common? Can I change my diet to heal faster? You could check out Comfrey - its old English name is ‘Knitbone’ it contains Alantoin (sp?) which promotes healing. ---
**Author:** ![Cider\_Depot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Cider\_Depot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cider_Depot)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/9 "2008-10-13T09:38:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You’re wrong. It’s after _ **40** _. :smack: Exactly what I was going to say. I’m 42 and minor injuries seem to take about twice as long to heal as they did when I was 20. Well done, if you got to 50 before you noticed anything. ---
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/healing-after-50/467561/10 "2008-10-14T05:42:29Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Not that long ago, but I was wondering if its time to do a pee test. IANA doctor, but the following are things I use that work very well for me: To check for diabetes, what you want is an A1c test. That gives the doctor a picture of your highest and lowest blood sugar over a several month range. I have an enormous family history of diabetes (including my grandfather, father and son), but am not yet diabetic myself (in my mid-60s). I get an A1c test once a year, just to be sure. AAMOF, just got this year’s about 10 days ago. It is _far_ more reliable than anything else for the purpose. As for the slow healing business … I’ve had problems with slow healing all my life; I seem to have a somewhat inferior immune system, inclined toward allergies, rather than disease resistance. ☹ I take several supplements that have improved my healing time enormously. The ones that I take primarily for the purpose of accelerating healing are vitamin A (you might prefer beta carotene, but A seems to work better for me, and is cheaper) and lysine. Please bear in mind that a smoker should not take either A or beta carotene. AFAIK, this does not apply to former smokers. I started taking lysine when a professor of nutrition told me that it speeded healing of “cold sores”. I’ve found it speeds healing of lots of other stuff, too. I take it twice daily. I know a nurse who takes 4 daily, and swears by it. I started taking the “A” more than 25 years ago, and the lysine 11 years ago. Thanks to the “A”, surgeries to replace a hip and a knee healed about twice as fast as for the average patient, according to the doctors, and with less scarring. I did take a lot more “A” after the surgeries, though - temporarily (3-4 weeks should do it; 6 weeks max). There are two things that I find very helpful to apply for purposes of encouraging healing of surface damage. A thin film of Vicks Vaporub applied to bruises before going to bed speeds up their healing amazingly. For abrasions, cuts (anything that breaks the skin), and the like, applying vitamin E oil works great. Again, it doesn’t take much, and you apply it after sterilizing the area with peroxide or alcohol. Keeping the wound covered for the first couple of days - at least when you’re up and active - is probably best, but I like to “air” those things at night. Oh, yeah. If you buy the “E” in a bottle, instead of sticking a pin or something in an “E” capsule, be sure you don’t let the liquid “E” get contaminated. Pour it into a spoon, or cough syrup dose cup, or on your finger, and put the lid back on. It isn’t all that cheap, and once it’s contaminated … what good is it? :smack: