Granulation tissue is the new tissue a wound builds to fill itself in. It is a normal stage of healing, not a complication.
In the first few days, a wound clots, a scab forms, and some clear fluid oozes from the wound to help clean the area. After that comes rebuilding. The wound starts to fill in with new tissue, called granulation tissue. New skin begins to form over this tissue.
This phase takes roughly three weeks. During that time, blood vessels repair and collagen forms the base for the new tissue. From the outside, you’ll notice that as the wound heals, the edges pull inward and the wound gets smaller.
That is the reassuring part. A wound filling in from the bottom and closing from the edges is a wound doing what it is supposed to do.
What this page can’t do is tell you whether the tissue in your own wound is granulation tissue. Wound beds contain more than one kind of tissue, and the colors overlap in ways that are hard to judge without training. For example, pressure sores covered in dead skin that is yellow, tan, green, or brown are called unstageable, because the dead skin makes it hard to tell how deep the sore is. Telling one tissue from another is part of what an exam is for.
One appearance stands out. Contact your provider right away if you have black edges around the injury. This is a sign of dead tissue.