treatyourscars While scars are common in wound healing, hypertrophic scars are the result of an abnormal reaction to trauma or injury. These are thickened, elevated scars that occur when the skin is injured.
A scar that thickens, reddens or rises above the surrounding skin is considered a hypertrophic scar. This is due to excessive collagen formation, and it can happen due to a variety of factors mentioned above. A combination of certain factors, such as age, skin quality, genetics and chronic disease can cause you to have a thick scar, even with pristine surgical techniques, and the fact that surgery can be frustrating for both patient and surgeon.
When your skin heals, scars form and this is a natural part of the healing process. Most scars can be diagnosed by yourself by keeping an eye on the spot where the skin heals from the injury. Those with darker skin will notice that they have scars that are darker than the surrounding tissue.
Scars in the elderly tend to be flat and pale, as opposed to cuts in younger people, which heal faster and are more likely to be thick and pink. If the initial scar is minimal, it can become enlarged and red in the following 4 to 6 weeks.
A scar is a fine line or hole in the skin due to abnormal tissue overgrowth. They can be caused by skin diseases such as acne or chickenpox and have a sunken or stoned appearance. Hypertrophic scars usually develop within a week of injury to the skin.
Hypertrophic scars resemble keloid scars but tend to be milder and do not grow beyond the limits of the original skin injury. Keloid scars occur within a year of the initial trauma to the skin. These scars lift the skin from pink to red, which is the same color as the dark surrounding skin.
Scars are part of the healing process after your skin is cut or damaged. Acne scars become more pronounced with age as the skin loses collagen and elasticity over time. Sensitive scars develop around nerves, skin and deep tissues that are affected by injury or surgery.
On the contrary, too much sun exposure can lead to further discoloration of the scars and the scar tissue is more vulnerable to sun damage than the rest of the skin. Taping scars after surgery can help minimize the risk of scars becoming more prominent. Another advantage of aging is that imperfections that occur over time as a result of sun damage can help to hide scars that are less obvious in younger skin.
Silicone films, which can be found in dressings and first aid departments in many shops, can be cut so that they fit into the scar, remove the tape after showering and apply it back to the scar after washing.
You may need to stitch or put on a special bandage to hold the skin around the wound so that the scar heals. As the incision heals, the skin moisturizer can be applied to the scar area as a gentle, firm massage to mature it. Put firm pressure with your fingers on the area where thick scar tissue can be felt under the skin.
The timing of scar treatment varies depending on the type of injury and surgery. When your injury heals and the incision is closed and the stitches are removed, your hand surgeon or hand therapist can suggest a variety of scar treatments.
This treatment tries to heal the injury by eliminating the problems that caused the hypertrophic scar in the first place, such as infections, inflammation and tension. The skin stretches like an inflatable balloon called tissue expander over the area where the healthy skin has been removed and the skin is drawn to replace the scar tissue. The deep skin tissues heal fresh, and the healed scars (pink, red, raised, thick and sensitive) pass through four different stages of healing.
As a patient, there are certain things you can do to reduce scarring, speed up healing, and guide your course through a scar that looks like a scar. Although none of these procedures completely removes scar tissue, they can minimize the occurrence of a scar and benefit your skin in other ways. One type of surgery that removes the scarring is the incision that is used to close the wound.
As surgeons we cannot control certain factors such as age, skin quality, genetics, chronic diseases or surgical scars; therefore the way you heal will vary from individual to individual. Scar revision surgery minimizes scars so they fit in and are not offered until years after injury or surgery. Dermabrasion can also be used to minimize small scars and minor surface irregularities such as surgical scars and acne scars.
Over time it can help to weaken scar tissue and to improve the appearance of the scar tissue. Cryosurgery can reduce the size of scars by freezing the top layer of the skin. The procedure attempts to shift the scar so that its edge looks more like a normal line or wrinkle in the skin.
The following steps do not protect the wound from infection, but they can support the body’s natural healing process by minimizing scar tissue. You can put silicone foil around the scar and leave it on for a day to smooth the skin. The process of desensitization of the scar begins when the skin is completely repaired and the tissue has healed.
Some forms of injection therapy use steroidal substances to reduce collagen formation and change the appearance, size and texture of the increased scar tissue. Topical treatments such as yellow band and external compression can also be used to treat existing surface scars and discolorations to support healing and scar revision procedures.
