Scar Revisions
Any sort of cut, laceration or trauma to the skin can result in a scar. How visible the scar is can depend on the patients age, skin type, location of the cut, genetics, and how the cut was closed/managed initially. While some of these factors can be controlled at the time of the cut/injury, we are sometimes left with a scar that is less than desirable or in a location that cannot be easily concealed. For these reasons, many patients will seek out a plastic surgeon for scar revisions or improvement. Thankfully, there are several options present to help improve certain scars.
What Type of Scars Are There?
While there can be many different attributes to a scar based on how the tissue healed initially, there are 4 main types of scars that people generally seek out a plastic surgeon for correction of:
Widened scar - Usually the result of the skin edges not being brought close together, so skin and soft tissue had to grow in-between to fill in the gap
Pigmented scar - Darkened or pink scar that can bring attention to the area
Hypertrophic scar - Increased scar tissue formation within the borders of the scar bed
Keloid scar - Increased scar tissue formation that extends outside the borders of the original scar bed
See below for the different options to treat scars!
Additional Information
-
Each treatment will be individualized based on the location, appearance, and age of the scar. Some common options for scar treatment are steroid injections, laser, and surgical excision.
1. Steroid injection - Kenalog is a corticosteroid that helps to break the collagen bonds thereby reducing the scar tissue; anti-inflammatory properties help with itching, swelling, redness
2. Lasers - CO2, IPL and pulse-dyed lasers can be used for treatment of hypertrophic and pigmented scars by causing changes in the collagen allowing it to remodel and tighten
3. Surgical Excision - Direct removal of scarred tissue with closure of the resultant wound -
Scars will continue to remodel for up to 1 year after creation which is the easiest time to make improvements in their appearance. Using moisturizer or scar creams over the scar once or twice a day with vigorous massage of the area is very helpful and effective at reducing overall scar thickness. The use of silicone sheeting during this period has also shown to be effective in improving the overall scar appearance.
-
Recovery from scar revision will vary depending on the procedure performed. For steroid injection there is no downtime and may have some soreness and bruising around the injection site with the steroids requiring several weeks to take full effect. For laser treatment, there may be some weeping of fluid and skin peeling for several days after treatment with minimal soreness thereafter. Lastly, for scar excision, depending on the degree of tissue rearrangement needed, there will be soreness, bruising and swelling for several days-week post procedure.
-
The cost for scar revision will vary depending on the procedure required.
