There are several things you can do to prevent or minimize the risk of scarring after cosmetic surgery. One of the best ways to prevent or minimize scarring is to take good care of your wounds after surgery. There are some products you can use to moisturize the area and minimize scarring as the incisions heal.
It’s best to keep the scar covered, but if not, you can use good sunscreen. The best prevention for scars is good wound care, so as with any wound, it’s important to keep the treated area clean. It will also help prevent an oversized, deep, or itchy scar.
Proper care during the healing process determines the amount of scarring, so be sure to pay close attention to the treated area for the best results. An experienced surgeon can help reduce the scar using the right incision techniques, but there are also ways to speed up postoperative healing. As a patient, there are several things you can do to reduce scarring, speed up healing, and guide your path towards a more aesthetically pleasing scar.
Unfortunately, as surgeons we cannot control some factors such as age, skin quality, genetics, chronic disease and therefore surgical scars and how you heal varies greatly from person to person.
Ensuring that chronic conditions such as diabetes are treated before surgery can help reduce the risk they can have on wound healing and scarring. Smokers are also at greater risk of infection after surgery, which also impairs scar healing. Smoking not only increases the risk of scarring, but it can also slow down the healing process. Smoking not only increases surgical complications but also negatively affects healing and may increase the chance of adverse scarring.
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A tug or pull can cause the incision area to become larger, and the wider the wound that needs to be healed, the greater the risk of scarring. Anything that puts stress on the wound, such as bending, stretching, and twisting, should be avoided as these can slow healing and increase the chance of scarring. Pressure directly on the scar can also become uncomfortable and painful. It can be difficult, but interrupting the body’s response to healing can exacerbate scarring.
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Closing scars immediately after surgery can help minimize the risk of scar spread. Once the healing process has begun, proper wound care, intense barrier moisturizers, and silicone gels can make the surgical scar less visible. You can start scar healing after wound closure, and outpatient treatment can start as early as a month after healing. You can explore options for minimizing scars as early as a week after your injury (or immediately after your stitches are removed, if you have them).
Read also: How To Massage Surgical Scars?
Silicone scar patches can help prevent new scars, but only if you use them in the first few weeks after your injury. Silicone sheets or tapes, found in many stores in the bandages or first aid section, can be cut to fit the scar, the silicone removed before showering, and reapplied to the scar after cleaning. The patch should be worn over the scar for 12-24 hours a day for 2-3 months.
To help the wound heal, use petroleum jelly to keep the cut moist. If the doctor makes an incision in the skin during surgery, scarring should be expected. A skin incision, which usually requires cutting through all layers of the skin, can result in scarring, no matter where on the body the surgery is performed. Surgical removal may be required, but many plastic surgeons first use steroid injections and other methods to treat the problem, as surgery can create more keloid scars.
Surgery attempts to heal the injury again by first addressing the problem that may have caused the hypertrophic scar, such as infection, inflammation, or tension. In many cases, dark or deformed scars can be treated with laser resurfacing or other non-surgical treatments. Here are dermatologists’ tips on how to reduce the appearance of scarring from injuries like peeling knees or deep scratches.
Read this too: How Long For Surgical Scars To Flatten
While scars from surgery or on joints, such as knees and elbows, are difficult to avoid, scars from minor cuts and scrapes can become less noticeable if treated properly at home. There is a lot you can do to make surgical scars disappear significantly, in many cases to the point where they won’t be visible to anyone else unless you point them out. The advantage of age is that blemishes that appear over time, such as sunburn, help hide scars that may be more visible on younger skin. Sunscreen can help reduce redness or brown discoloration and make the scar fade faster.
The bad news is that there’s very little you can do to prevent scarring other than staying out of the sun before surgery, as tanned skin is more prone to discoloration from sunburn. You should discuss this with your doctor if you do not want scarring after surgery. If you are considering any type of surgery, elective or not, I recommend reading them before surgery so you can start taking the best scar care right away. Follow these guidelines to minimize postoperative scarring.
According to dermatologist Shilpi Khetarpal, scars don’t even need to be covered with a special cream. Dr. Hetarapal said guidelines have changed; doctors can now affect scar healing by intervening early rather than late. We are particularly interested in improving the aesthetics of surgical scars on the back, chest, or near joints (such as knees or elbows), as wounds in these areas often do not heal well due to excessive tension in the healing scar. Bend and stretch. Compression helps control swelling and supports incision healing, which can help scars heal into fine lines and prevent them from stretching.