Scar redness

[Phil]

Hi All,

I'm 8 weeks post surgery and all is going well. I'm 4 weeks into rehab and am due to go back to work on 12 August. Energy levels are improving, I'm walking 5-8 Klms each day and last week I got good feedback from my surgeon and cardiologist. My scar has healed nicely, but is quite red - my question is - have others applied creams, etc which have lessened the redness? I know the redness will go with time, but am wondering if others have applied products which have quickened this process.

All the best.


Phil.

 

[tom in MO]

I looked into them and didn't feel from what I read that they would be effective. The redness will go away. I put a little baby lotion on mine if it looked scaley, otherwise I left it alone. Occasinally I would get a pimple on the scar (I am 55 so I don't get pimples anywhere else anymore ) so I stayed away from routine lubrication.

 

[Heart Of The Sunrise]

My surgeon's office recommended vitamin E. I am 4 months post-op and my scar has significantly faded.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

The Wall Street Journal recently had an article on treating scars, which quotes from Whitney Bowe, medical director for cosmetic and laser services at Advanced Dermatology in New York and Ossining, N.Y. She also teaches at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

"She recommends plain old Vaseline and a Band-Aid. Some patients prefer the texture of Aquaphor, an ointment which Dr. Bowe says also works well. The more ingredients in a moisturizer, she says, the greater the chance it can cause an allergic reaction. It is also very important to keep a healing wound out of the sun to prevent discoloration."

The articel is here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs=article

-- Suzanne

 

[kimcdougc]

My dermatologist told me not to put anything on the scar. I am really fair skinned. My scar is still really red 9 weeks post surgery. It is crooked to. lol. Hope it will eventually just be a faint white line. Badge of courage I say.

 

[ski girl]

I used something called Scar FX that reduced redness and made the scar a lot smoother. It's a silicon sheet that sticks to the skin - highly recommended.

 

[epstns]

I can only say that I didn't use anything on mine. For the first few months, it was rather red, but over the next couple of years it has faded so that now it is almost not noticeable.

 

[tom in MO]

As Sarah Louise said in the favorite quote thread:

"Don't look at my scars and feel sorry for me, look at my scars and feel proud of what i've acheived."

IIRC she had about 5 or more OHS.

 

[pellicle]

my first op the scar went red and angry for a few years (I was 10) but by the time I had my second it had become flat and vague (28). This scar is all over the shop. Some bits red and lumpy others flat.

Really has ruined my bikini modelling career I have to tell you!

 

[AmyR]

I am using something similar to SkiGirl. I visited my family doc who is also a dermatologist. He has given me a cream that is a silicon based cream. It forms a layer on it. The doc says it will flatted, smooth-en and also reduce the redness. Cant really say much since i am using it just from the past 3 days. All the best..

 

[DebbyA]

My incision scar is still red and ropy and sometimes itchy after 5.5 years. All my other scars from any surgery have nearly disappeared. No two doctors, including two dermatologists, have told me the same thing about scars. So my perspective is that people who got nicely healed scars would have gotten them no matter what they did. I can't remember anyone posting that they treated half their scar out of scientific curiosity.

 

[ski girl]

Debby I actually treated half my scar out of curiosity! The Scar FX stuff is expensive here and I wanted to to have some ammunition in case it didn't work (as I expected) and I wanted my money back.

However after three days there was such a huge difference in the look of the scar that I scrapped my experiment and started treating the whole thing!

 

[pellicle]

The weird thing for me is that half of ms scar looks fine and the other half red and angry.

I haven't really treated it at all