[Freddy]

Alright, so I'm starting another little blog where I'll write about scars. In particular the one that I got after my car accident.

The scar that I got is very light and didn't cause too much damage (in fact Mariepop didn't even notice it until I pointed it out when I saw her in person).

The lightness of the scar doesn't mean that it can't or shouldn't be treated. The damage the scars leave is mostly emotional and/or physcological. In other words, we all know that scars in themselves aren't bad, but if they make you feel bad, then they should be treated.

First, lets look at the stages of the scar:

The first stage is called the Haemostatic phase

During this stage the body is just trying to close the wound. It does this by clotting the cut and thus forming a scab. Note that in my personal experience that scabbing doesn't necessarily mean a scar. This stage lasts a few hours to a day or so.

The second stage is called the Inflammatory phase
During this stage the cut gets inflammed because the body is removing bad stuff from the cut such as rust, wood, dirt, (or other foreign particles) and bacteria. This stage lasts for 2-4 days or so. During this stage you shouldn't apply anything to the cut just yet.

The third stage is called the Proliferative phase
I think that it's the most critical stage to start scar management. It runs from day 3 or 4 to day 21 or so. The skin is starting to restructure itself. Three things happen during this stage. The body is pulling the cut together to minimize the damage, the body is producing collagen, and the body produces the new skin to cover the cut.

It's important to help the body during this stage and I'll explain a little bit more later on.

The fourth and final stage is called the Maturation phase
This lasts from three weeks until 2 years. During this stage the body had healed the wound and is now started to help it fade and get smaller. It is important to continue scar management during this stage as well since improvements can still be noted.

 

[Freddy]

Scar Management in the first stage:

You should remove any visible debris from the area of the wound with clean hands or gloves. You should also clean around the wound with alcohol if possible. Do no put alcohol into the wound and don't use hydrogen peroxide since it will destroy health skin tissue. Cover the wound and wait for it to heal before you start applying any type of dressing to it. Many people think it's a good idea to put polysporin into the cut right away, that's not a good idea and in fact, the company recommends not putting it on "broken" skin.

 

[Freddy]

Scar Management in the second stage:

The cut should have a scab by now, so apply ice to help with the swelling. Since the skin is still trying to fix the cut, don't apply anythign for the next few days either. Let the body do it's thing and you can help it out in another day or so.

Do keep the area clean though, since you don't want a nasty infection.

 

[Freddy]

Scar Management in the third stage:

The scab will fall off soon, this will most likely happen in the shower. If the cut is big, you'll want to make sure you don't expose it to the water, if it's small and you think that the skin has already formed underneath it then don't worry about it.

Now you can start active scar management. For this you can start applying red light therapy as I have, which promotes collagen production and helps with healing as well as topical creams and gels that are designed to minimize scars. Polysporin is the traditional one, I found that Cicaplast also helped alot as well as Bio-Oil. I've been using a gel that I made myself with these three products in it.

I like to use a lot of product so I gently rub it in first and then I leave a covering layer.

 

[Freddy]

Scar Mangement in the fourth stage:

In this stage you will want to continue the protocol from the third stage. In addition, you will want to massage the area and make sure to apply sunscreen.

 

[Freddy]

Nasty Scars

There are three things that make a scar look bad.

The texture compared to the skin around it.
The color compared to the skin around it.
The lack of mobility compared to the skin around it.

You can address these in many ways:
I was lucky that the cut that I got wasn't deep enough that my body needed to restructure itself to the point where there was a change in the composition of the skin. Massage will help with going the skin the "creases) it needed to blend in with the rest of the areas around it since a skin is usually flat and shiny.

Color can be addressed by using lots of sunscreen. The product that happens when you expose your scar to the sun is that it collects melanin near the cut but it doesn't remove itself as it does normally. So avoid having a dark scar by using lots of suncreen and avoid the sun if possible.

The third is lack of mobility. I had this problem with my knee after the accident. With massage and time it became better. This is something that you can't really do much for and you might need surgury if your skin heals and you don't have full mobility. See a doctor for this.

 

[fawnie]

Very informative, Freddy! I'm sure this will help lots of ppl!



Skin | care | talk

 

[Freddy]

Thanks,

I'm going to be adding more info as we go along.

 

[KrazyLoveAffair]

This was great;D

Thanks,

I'm going to be adding more info as we go along.

We're waiting..

 

[Freddy]

Alright, so I've continued the therapy of the cut that I have now and I'm happy to report that it is recovering rather impressively. The only downside to scar management projects is that it is a long and tedious process.

My recommendation at this point is to use a post-scar therapy for at least three months. I've been using a mixture of Cicaplast and Bio-oil applied to the area at night. I find that since Bio-oil does burn if it gets into the eyes, and the area that I am working on is near the eye, I can't do it during the day. At night it usually isn't a problem though.

If the cut isn't deep, it might not even leave a scar, however the discoloration from the skin may be present for a while, as is the case in my cut. The coloration results from mainly two things, the first is the over-production of melanin in the skin in the area of the cut, and the second one is the blood that is there from ruptured veins. I think I observed the second one in my cut.

Massage is excellent in helping a recovering cut. My knee which suffered a deep cut in the accident went through a time when it was hard to flex because of the scar tissue that was forming. However, with massage from the physiotherapist I was able to break that down and allow free movement of the joint area.

Supplementation is something that I'm going to talk about later on.

 

[ondine]

Hi Freddy! I was wondering what you ultimately decided to do for your scar. I am glad to hear that you're getting the results you wanted.

 

[Freddy]

I'm going to use Bio-oil for the entire maturation phase. Once this is done I'm going to see the end result and either lighten the area to match the surrounding area or leave it alone if it fades completely. I'm really thinking it will turn out nice since, as I stated before, the skin's texture wasn't affect, it's just the coloration. So if the color were to match, it wouldn't be noticable.

Thus this process will take at least two years to three years but that times passes fast. Who knows too, it might only take six months.

Patience is critical at this point, but by that same token I may snap one day and lighten the area right away. Hahaha.

 

[mike]

hey Freddy, what about "silicone base" scar products? what's you take on them?

 

[Freddy]

I've heard good things about the silicone sheets that you apply over the entire areas, I haven't experimented with this so I'm not speaking from first hand experience.

 

[mike]

I've heard good things as well, I'm going to try Scarguard MD. I recently had the stitches removed (3 total) from my forehead, it was a pretty good laceration about 3/4 inch long. It's raised a little, I guess from the collagen build up. I'll give a try and I'll keep you posted.

 

[Freddy]

How did you get the cut?

Make sure that you start treating it right away to minimize the elevation of the scar.

 

[mike]

I slammed the hatch of my jeep cherokee right on my forehead, and also suffered a concussion. The directions say to wait until the wound is completely healed, usually about to 2 weeks. I waited about 3 weeks. When the stitches were removed (1 week after the accident) I just kept it out of sun light, and used a product called HD scar solution its all natural with no silicone stuff. I'm on day 2 using scar guard MD, only time will tell.

 

[lukav]

I've heard good things as well, I'm going to try Scarguard MD. I recently had the stitches removed (3 total) from my forehead, it was a pretty good laceration about 3/4 inch long. It's raised a little, I guess from the collagen build up. I'll give a try and I'll keep you posted.

I'm using Strataderm, which is also a silicone gel. I've been using it for about two months and can already see a noticable difference. I have a scar on my arm after a mole removal.

 

[yioongsusan]

Anybody heard about Dermatix? Is a silicone gel. I had a cut slightly above my eyebrow. Its quite deep. total 3 stitches to close up. Probably I will be taking out my stitches on Sat. i.e. about 5 days after the accident. Was thinking to use Dermatix to manage the scar. Anybody has use this product before?