Millions of people around the world live with wounds that simply won’t heal. These long-lasting wounds, often caused by diabetes, poor circulation or pressure, can be painful, prone to infection and can seriously affect quality of life. In severe cases, they can lead to amputation.

Current treatments help manage symptoms, but they don’t always address the underlying problem. That means dressings, antibiotics and repeated clinic visits, often for months or years. For many people, that cycle never truly ends.

But the latest research published by my colleagues and myself offers a new perspective on why some wounds just won’t heal – and points to a potential new way of treating them.

By studying both human tissue and experimental models, we found that a molecule in the skin called MC1R is consistently disrupted in chronic wounds. When we stimulated this molecule, the skin was able to reduce inflammation and begin healing again.

MC1R is best known for something quite different from wound healing: the gene is responsible for red hair and very fair skin. But MC1R does far........

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