Anyone had surgical scars? What did you use for scar mgmt?
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enjoys freebies · Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:47 pm Quote

My daughter had a tummy tuck, and worries that her scar color is very dark. It's been 5 weeks since her operation. Also she said above the incision line there is some lump and hardness, but none below it. Is it normal? What did you use for scar management? How long does it take for scars to lighten? Is it true that you should not eat eggs after the surgery or you might get keloid? How long should you avoid eggs after operation?

enjoys freebies · Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:23 am Quote

Hi, ruk1.

I believe that dry brushing/massagingg the scars and using silicone sheets are the best treatments in order to lessen the appearance of scars.

Regular dry brushing and massage of the scars is going to increase blood flow and cell turnover in the area and will supposedly improve the appearance of the scars. I have been dry brushing scars from surgery and various "beauty treatments" such as electrolysis and DIY mole removal ( Embarassed

) and strongly believe it's beneficial.
Your daughter has to be diligent about doing it every day for several weeks though - there are no short cuts to a nicely healed scar.

I also recall that the face exercise expert LouLou recommended massaging and dry brushing surgery scars in one of her posts.

Another treatment that is well worth a try, is silicone sheets. According to information from scar-reduction.info (see link), studies have shown that 86 % to 94 % of scars treated with silicone sheets improved in appearance and elasticity within two months, compared with only 12 % of untreated scars.

http://scar-reduction.info/_wsn/page2.html

PS. The wounds must be completely healed before starting dry brushing/massaging.

Smile

enjoys freebies · Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:00 am Quote

I agree silicone sheets or liquid silicone (scarguard is a good brand).

Her scar is still very new, she is going to need lots of patience. It can up to a year for scars to fade.

I have never heard about not eating eggs.

enjoys freebies · Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:37 pm Quote

Thank you for your responses, girliegirl and septembergirl.

My daughter said her incision area is still tight, and there's a lump and hardness above the incision line.

Is it normal?

When you said the scar has to be completely healed, how can you tell if it is or not? How long does that take? If the incision line is still red, does that mean it's not yet completely healed? I don't want to tell her to drybrush now if it's not yet safe. TIA!

enjoys freebies · Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:39 pm Quote

I agree about the silicon sheets, and massaging, I got those lumps and bumps your taking about with my first and second c-sections,they got better but never went away completely ( doctor say its the skin adhering to your tummy) I didn't get them with my 3rd , I used Cica care sheets on them and massaged them daily with conturbex(mederma), cica-care sheets prevented that lumpy scar your taking about , and made the skin more elastic and stopped the scar from sticking to my tummy. hope this helps

enjoys freebies · Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:40 pm Quote

ruk1, if her wound is healed, there's no scab and the skin barrier is intact, she can start dry brushing and massage. She should have passed that stage now.

Smile

enjoys freebies · Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:40 am Quote

There's a brand called Scar Leaves, my derm told me about them a while ago. Worth a try

enjoys freebies · Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:50 pm Quote

nibn wrote:

I agree about the silicon sheets, and massaging, I got those lumps and bumps your taking about with my first and second c-sections,they got better but never went away completely ( doctor say its the skin adhering to your tummy) I didn't get them with my 3rd , I used Cica care sheets on them and massaged them daily with conturbex(mederma), cica-care sheets prevented that lumpy scar your taking about , and made the skin more elastic and stopped the scar from sticking to my tummy. hope this helps

Thank you, nibn. I will tell my daughter to use cica care and massage with mederma. I think she bought some cica care already, but am not sure if she's massaging or not.

enjoys freebies · Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:51 pm Quote

Septembergirl wrote:

ruk1, if her wound is healed, there's no scab and the skin barrier is intact, she can start dry brushing and massage. She should have passed that stage now.

Smile

She doesn't have any scab. The incision line looks clean. It is a thin red line. She just said it still feels tight along that line. I'll tell her to dry brush. Is there a special brush she should use? How hard should the brush be?

enjoys freebies · Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:52 pm Quote

fat_swan wrote:

There's a brand called Scar Leaves, my derm told me about them a while ago. Worth a try

Is this another brand for silicone sheets or is it a scar cream?

enjoys freebies · Fri Feb 06, 2009 7:48 am Quote

I was told to massage gently after 3 weeks and use mederma, plus sunscreen if it is going to be exposed to sunlight.. That has worked very well.

enjoys freebies · Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:45 am Quote

AnnieR wrote:

I was told to massage gently after 3 weeks and use mederma, plus sunscreen if it is going to be exposed to sunlight.. That has worked very well.

I've used mederma on surgical scars and it didnt help at all. But I do think message is a good idea.

enjoys freebies · Fri Feb 06, 2009 2:37 pm Quote

It seems the concensus is massage, massage, massage.

Is this hand massage or machine massage?

Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:39 pm Quote

Septembergirl is right on the money. I had the same procedure done and was very religious about massaging the scar once it was sufficiently healed. I think anything she can do to minimize the pulling at the incision site will help as well. I didn't use silicon sheets (I was too cheap), but I think that even the medical tape that I used on the incision line helped.

Happy healing!

enjoys freebies · Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:42 am Quote

scarguard...its a brush on silicone shield,about 55 dollars, mederma available walmart for about 10 bucks.Time is the greatest healer.....at 6 mos to a yr they will flatten out and become nearly invisible so be patient. I have had a lot of plastic surgery,my scars are all nearly invisible now

enjoys freebies · Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:38 am Quote

I was told to gently massage with my finger in the direction of the scar where it would not open. So I would apply the mederma and massage it in, very very gently,so as to not tug but smooth. Worked very well for me.

enjoys freebies · Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:14 pm Quote

I got a keloid from a vaccine. how sad and absurd

enjoys freebies · Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:27 pm Quote

not eating eggs to avoid a keloid? who came up with that? i should'nt be impressed though, as there's also an old chinese wives tale saying that soy sauce is not allowed either during the healing or u will scar.

enjoys freebies · Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:01 am Quote

I had LOTS of stitches in my face (around 30-40 I think) after an accident, and they’re completely invisible to my eye (even with my trusty 10X magnifying mirror)

I only used emu oil - after the wounds had healed, several times a day. Maybe it wasn’t the emu, maybe I’m just lucky, as my skin is pretty tough and usually heals well, or possibly it was the skill of the doc (I was lucky to be stitched up by a top plastic surgeon)

I’ve also used the silicon sheets on scars on my body in the past and they’ve also healed well.

Seem to recall reading once that skin with a higher melanin content is more prone to scarring, keloids in particular.

I’d go for the silicon sheets and maybe try some emu. In fact that’s what I recommended to my girlfriend who just had 15 stitches in her face today...

enjoys freebies · Sun Mar 01, 2009 10:21 pm Quote

silicone sheets work for bulgy scars only

Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:12 am Quote

I agree with using the silicone and sunscreen coz I used it after a birthmark removal operation. I also suggest using vitamin E or aloe vera gel on the scars. Yes you should not eat eggs after an operation or the wound will take ages to heal and the same with soy sauce it'll leave black scars. Wait until the scars dry then you can eat eggs or soy sauce.

enjoys freebies · Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:59 am Quote

Omg, I can't believe people even talk about scar treatment 5 weeks after surgery!

Yes hardness is normal after surgery - it's a healing area, lots of blood.

But whatever it is, 5 weeks is too soon to do anything about it! She must wait until the scar is fully healed - it's not painful to touch, no lumpness or hardness.
If she has suspicion about lumpness, she should check with doctor, but I think it's normal.

enjoys freebies · Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:45 pm Quote

zverenok wrote:

Omg, I can't believe people even talk about scar treatment 5 weeks after surgery!

Yes hardness is normal after surgery - it's a healing area, lots of blood.

But whatever it is, 5 weeks is too soon to do anything about it! She must wait until the scar is fully healed - it's not painful to touch, no lumpness or hardness.
If she has suspicion about lumpness, she should check with doctor, but I think it's normal.

What did you use for scars? Was yours from surgery? How long did you wait before you used anything on your scars?

enjoys freebies · Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:43 pm Quote

I had two surgeries, one big one small. I didn't use anything on my scars, with time they blend with skin, become tiny white lines, hard to notice.

But the big one was dark and hard for a long while - I guess also because of it's location - tummy.

Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:47 am Quote

i also used silicon sheets for my scar (c-section area) but it only seemed to make it worst, before that the scar didn't look as bad, i can't remember exactly ( the scar became thicker in width) it was 2 1/2 years ago but after that i left it alone, i also tried mederma but that just made my skin itch

now the scar is a brownish colour and is still slightly raised

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