treatyourscars Most wounds, except for very minor ones, leave some degree of scarring. A scar occurs as a result of the biological process of wound healing in the skin and other tissues. A keloid scar is an overgrowth of tissue that occurs when too much collagen is produced at the wound site.
Keloid scars rise above the skin and can be pink, red, the same color, or darker than the surrounding skin. The main apparent difference between hypertrophic and keloid scars is the extent to which the scar extends around the original wound. Doctors define hypertrophic scars as scars that do not extend beyond the original wound, and keloids as scars that extend into the surrounding normal skin. Hypertrophic scarring can occur anywhere on the skin where you have had a wound or skin wound.
Scars usually form during the healing process of wounds, but a hypertrophic scar is the result of an abnormal response to injury or injury. A hypertrophic scar is an abnormal wound healing response in which additional connective tissue is formed in the original wound area.
Hypertrophic scars are more common, but they don’t grow as much as keloids and usually go away on their own (a process that can take a year or more). Some people experience excessive collagen deposition during the healing process and develop large, raised scars (called hypertrophic scars and, in extreme cases, keloids).
Genetic Risk Factors Increasing Skin Inflammation Some patients with keloids and hypertrophic scars have a family history of abnormal scarring, suggesting that keloids and hypertrophic scars may be caused by genetic factors. The reason suggests that these pathological scars are due to damage to the reticular dermis and subsequent aberrant wound healing in it.
Read also: Is Keloid Scarring Genetic?
Keloid and hypertrophic scars are caused by skin lesions and irritations, including trauma, insect bites, burns, surgery, vaccinations, skin piercings, acne, folliculitis, chickenpox, and herpes zoster. Some scars caused by skin conditions, such as acne and chickenpox, may have a sunken or pitted appearance. Also, when the skin is under tension (eg, near a joint) during the healing process, a sunken or pitted appearance may appear. This also means that the scar tissue will not be as lubricated or elastic as normal skin.
It will take several months for the scar to return to 100% normal skin strength. It is important to remember that it can take up to a year for a scar to mature. There are three different stages of healing, and your scar will look different in each stage. If you have an incision or stitches, the wound may take a full three months to heal, and the scar will disappear within a few years.
Wounds take longer to heal, and scarring from wounds may be more severe. Wounds can take three months or more to fully heal from the inside out, and maybe only about 80 percent stronger than the original intact skin. In about two years, scarring problems can develop, leaving more severe scars in the long run.
Wait for your scar to have enough time to heal completely and possibly shrink and flatten on its own. In general, the less stress placed on the wound, the less the scar will spread over time. If a particular area receives repeated injury (removing the scab over and over again), the tissue becomes inflamed and may not heal well. The shape, size, and depth of the wound contribute to scarring, as do the amount of blood that can enter the area and the color and thickness of the skin.
Scar reshaping is what turns a thick, red, raised scar into a thin, flat, white scar, and over time, your scars will usually fade and become barely noticeable. You can do a few things with scars to make them look better, hide them, or change their appearance. While none of these treatments completely eliminate scar tissue, they can significantly reduce the appearance of scars, as well as improve the appearance of the skin in other ways. Some interventions can help heal and improve the aesthetic appearance of scars.
These suggestions include scar gels, injections, laser treatments, resurfacing, and sometimes surgery. Your doctor may recommend one or more of these treatments to flatten and reduce your scar. Other treatments may include surgery or steroid injections for raised or large scars (eg, keloids); in some cases, low-dose radiation therapy can help minimize collagen deposition to prevent the patient from recovering from treatment relapse.
Your doctor may recommend chemical peels, which remove old dead skin cells and encourage new skin cells to take over. dermaplaning, a manual exfoliation technique that improves skin texture, reduces acne scars, and more; laser resurfacing, which affects certain areas of the skin and speeds up the skin’s healing process; the list goes on. Your doctor can tell you which product is best for your specific scar. This decision is made based on your age, previous wound healing experience, the size and location of the scar, and other factors.
Scar tissue can form from skin breaks or wounds from accidental trauma, inflammation, burns, and surgical incisions. For example, skin that has thinned and stretched due to heavy breasts is more likely to develop raised, loose or uneven scars. Scar tissue “lacks the elasticity, mobility, and range of motion that normal skin has,” said Angela Gibson, a burn surgeon who studies wound healing at the University of Chicago School of Medicine and Public Health (Wisconsin-Madison). When the healing is mostly complete, you will see a raised red scar that turns into a flatter pink scar or a corrugated elongated scar.
