If the human body didn't heal itself, how'd you be doing rn?

D-E-D, dead.

We've all bled out.

If you've ever broken a bone, just assume you'd be dead of infection.

Actually let's take this further: multicellular life wouldn't exist. Life wouldn't exist. Cell division requires both cells to heal themselves. This is a silly question.

I'm not the first born child, I likely would not be alive

Very very very dead. The first cut you get would cause you to bleed out and die. It would be a miracle to survive to one year old

Probably everyone would die from common illnesses in childhood

Does "heal itself" include immune responses? Like, could you recover from a cold on your own or would you need anti virals?

Very dead.

Sounds like the sort of question someone under 30 asks

I'd be very dead.

Everyone in the world is dead next question

HVAC tech. My hands would be banana peels.

Add immortality and you've got Elantris.

In the last year alone I pulled a siatic nerve.... Burned my stomach (small scar) and broke the left most bone in my left foot in 3 places and barely dodged surgery as it is... So not great?

Super dead. I would not have survived my teens.

Have you ever read the book Elantris? It sounds very not fun.

People think that the immune system is like this pinpoint accurate machine that kills invaders. In reality, it is more like a carpet bomber that functions under the principle that we can heal and viruses/bacteria cannot. Inflammation is basically your body carpet bombing and healing.

We would also not be able to build muscle mass as the repair of microtears is what leads to hypertrophy.

So we would all be dead. Healing if fundamental to life.

This is just too unrealistic. I mean, some people actually suffer from conditions where they have a really hard time healing wounds, like lack of plackettes. And some people bruse extremely easily. But if you were unable to heal at all, you would be long gone. Kids get scratches all the time, and even one scratch would lead to an infection that would overwhelm you immune system.

I have spent time lifting weights in the gym, every muscle in my body would be soup.

I've torn ligaments in my ankles. Tons of large cuts and gashes. I broke three ribs in 2022. I wouldn't be doing too great.

just accounting for all mosquito bites ive ever had i'd probably have bled to death long ago

I'd be alright

Have you read Elantris?

Covers this pretty well.

100% dead

Anime character villian looks.

I guess circumcisions wouldn't be a thing, so that would be nice; or they would still be done and male genital mutilation would be more unfortunate.

When I was 4 or 5 my 300 pound dad fell on me on the street.
Not well.

I basically still have a broken nose since then. The bone is blocking my left nostril for the most part. When I was at the hospital, none of the doctors noticed my broken nose. I did however need to get X-Ray or CT scan (I don't remember which one it was) done urgently. The "urgently" took a month. "Oh, look, your nose was broken. You'll be able to get plastic surgery at 18 for free, since it limits your breathing."

Anyway, I'd still have bleeding face scraped from the asphalt. Perhaps even broken rib(s). It's not unlikely for that to happen in such case, and it's not like anyone would notice.

But this seems to be nothing special.
My dad broke his knee, called an ambulance, they took him to the ER. Then they took an X-Ray of his knee, someone just told him "It's not broken. Go to checkup in a week." He also had to get home somehow, on his own.
Well, anyway, he went to that doctor for the "Checkup" right next day. He looked at the X-Ray, said it's very obviously broken and will need a surgery.

He also had some problem with his spine, took over 10 years for anyone to look at it, at which point it was late. Now his left leg is basically paralyzed and he's on strong drugs.

My grandma had a badly done amputation, it kept bleeding and oozing pus. She also had some infusions recommended, but the doc who recommended those said she'll need approval from GP. But the GP would have to visit her at home as transporting her would be too risky. Response from GP? "Not worth it, she'll die soon anyway."

Anyway, this kinda turned into rant. At the very least my whole mouth would be bleeding as I keep accidentally biting my cheeks and tongue.

Died as an infant from anything

Beadridden

Not great! I guess I'd be forever bed-ridden with a giant surgical cut across my chest from armpit to armpit.

I already have screws, bolts, and rods in me. I'd probably have thousands of staples and/or stitches. No healing means no scarring, so there may be some benefits in other ways.

ask old people in their 90's

I'd be deaf, lame and have multiple missing fingers and toes.

Ran through a bunch of busted glass as a kid with bare feet, plus a bike accident.

Dead.

cut myself on a glass desk near my wrist once. bled like hell but it healed by itself. i do live in europe, but my dad thought it wasn't neccesary.

so yeah, i'd be pretty much not alive. other than the occasional cut on my hands, that's probably my worst injury.

Absurd.

Every one of us a) wouldn’t have come into existence, because birth is a trauma with plenty of bleeding and potential for infection on both sides, and b) you’d die from your first infection or bleed out from your first cut.

I ould have been dead for more then half a century. I wouldn't have survived my 1st year.

Would've bleed out at 9 from arm laceration.

Yeah, i would be boned. Even just recently i had a wrist reconstruction

Worm food.

I'd probably be dead from infection, and at the very least horribly disfigured. Was in a boating accident when I was 6 and had 3rd degree burns across my entire body.

I'd tell you but it's really hard to type from this Tupperware they putty-knifed me into after The Incident.

I'd be dead.

I think that's just what diabetic patient have to deal with, wound that never heal will get infection sooner or later. So i'll just die from paper cut.

Would be in a bad shape but not dead probably.

A few bruises and maybe some toes that need armor, but not too bad.

I don't remember it, but my dad and I were going down a slide together when I was a toddler and he accidentally rolled over me and broke my leg, lol. I was only one at the time, apparently. I suppose I would've died then without any healing.

Leprosy

I'm 50% of the way there and it sucks. Everything hurts at some point.

My body would look like Dorian Gray's portrait.

Ded. I'd be nothing but a mass of stitches and have been burned enough times, if that didn't heal id be dead.

Slow healing is the one thing I notice the most about getting older. I'm in good shape and all, well nourished, it's not lifestyle. I broke my finger and it took two years to heal completely. As a kid that would have been 6 weeks, at 50 something it took 104 weeks.

Well, given I have a bunch of injuries that never healed, I’d say I’m doing alright considering.

Being a young person who hasn’t had one of these yet, you should be aware that older people don’t heal as well as younger people.

Depends on what you're talking about. If you consider all the injuries we've ever picked up in life, we'd all be dead. If you're just talking about the injuries I have now not healing, then I'm fit as a fiddle.