Epidermal wound healing refers to the repair of the epidermis in response to wounding. Epidermal only wounds are typically less severe than those affecting the dermis and so stages of the wound healing response may be missed.
As the epidermis is itself not vascularised—it is receiving blood from the dermis—a clotting and vasoconstrictive response is often not necessary. Immune cells may still be recruited to the wound site because the removal of the epidermal barrier makes the wound susceptible to infection.
Since the dermis is intact, local fibroblasts are able to contribute to the formation of a new basement membrane, upon which the epidermis sits. In very minor wounds even the basement membrane might remain intact, allowing for rapid re-epithelialization.
Keratinocytes—epidermal epithelial cells—around the wound site migrate across the wound and close it. Additionally, epidermal cells from dermal appendages, such as hair follicles, can contribute to wound closure.
Since the dermis and underlying tissue have not been damaged very little remodelling is required. As such, small wounds only in the epidermis typically heal rapidly and are often not observable (e.g., via the formation of scar tissue) within a period of months.