title: Therapeutic effects of pregnancy on a chronic skin ulcer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Sex hormones strongly influence skin physiology and evidences suggest wound healing as well. Estrogens establish a prohealing setting, and androgens play an antagonist role.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We present the case of a young woman in whom pregnancy with its associated hormonal shifts allowed the spontaneous healing of a chronic wound on the left leg with bone exposure, which had followed a car accident and had resisted medical and surgical treatments for 5 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Systemic or topical estrogens may offer alternative options in the therapy of chronic wounds, in particular in the elderly adults who have physiologically reduced estrogens levels.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Plastic Surgery, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lancerotto
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lago
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pescarini
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bassetto
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vindigni