**1. Introduction**

A wound can be defined as a disruption of the functioning and anatomical structure of the tissues. This disruption ranges from more severe damage to the subcutaneous tissue with tendons, vessels, nerves, parenchymal organs, muscles, and bones being affected or a small break in the epithelial tissue [1].

Wound healing is a process of recovery, and it has three phases: inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. However, if the process is not thoroughly studied, this is not enough to understand wound healing. Wound healing involves complicated continuous interactions between cells and mediators. Recently, there has been an increase in the understanding of cellular interactions and inflammatory mediators, as new mediators are discovered every year [1, 2].

The complicated and organized cascade of biochemical and cellular events is triggered by an injury resulting in a wound. The nonclosure of the wound or delay in healing is the result of prolongation or failure in any one of the phases of wound

**Figure 1.** *The macroscopic appearance of an open wound [3].*

healing. This delay is one of the significant clinical issues affecting health care expenditure. A better understanding of the pathophysiologic process can better grasp the fundamentals of wound healing physiology [3]. The macroscopic appearance of an open wound is shown in **Figure 1**.

The damaged tissue is restored after the tissue lesion occurs, followed by the tissue repair and regeneration process involving a series of cellular and molecular events. The amalgamation of different dynamic processes involving blood cells, parenchymal cells, and soluble mediators gives rise to different wound healing phases. The tissue edema is developed due to soluble mediators. The area of the tissue injury is reduced by contracting the myofibroblasts and fibroplasia in the proliferative stage. Reepithelialization and angiogenesis are still observed at this stage. The mesenchymal components are generated by the endothelial cells, which are adequately orchestrated by the signaling proteins. This process is called as Hedgehog pathway [4].

This chapter focuses on the applications of microneedles for wound care management. However, it is also imperative to understand the types of wounds, different stages of the healing process, and available treatments before discussing microneedlebased treatments. Details on wounds and their treatments are presented in the next sections, followed by microneedle application for wound healing [5].
