Every scar has its own story like battle wounds, childhood fall, adult fight, accident or surgery, etc. But would we want to remember every story every day? There are some wounds, some stains, some marks or scars that we want to remove so that you look and feel better. So today we will talk about the treatment required to be scarless by erasing such scars. Welcome to this blog in which we will talk about a journey from scar to scarless.
First of all, let us know what are scars and why do they form.? Scars are the healing response of the body which is created by collagen deposition and fibrous connective tissue. There is no regeneration process in this, you can call it the repair process.
This means that the repair process done to heal the injuries or wounds on the body leaves scars.
Let us see how to decide the journey from scar to scarless.
Many people in our country treat their wounds as primary treatment by MBBS, BAMS, BHMS doctors. There are many reasons for this like many people do not know that a plastic surgeon can give you the best scarless treatment as compared to other surgeons. The second main reason is the availability of a plastic surgeon. The third reason is that when we get an injury we don't think much about the scar. The fourth and main reason is the price. Many times we think that plastic surgery treatment is very costly. However, it is not.
If you have just now gotten injured or if you have old scars that trouble you, then this blog will be helpful for you.
A lot of patients come to me who expect that the scar should not be visible at all.
Practically speaking, it is not possible. Many times people come searching on Google or they have heard the claim of a doctor, but the truth is that scars cannot be completely removed. Yes, if we had any magic or spell, it may be possible. It is not possible to make the scars disappear completely, however as a plastic surgeons, we can certainly create a perfect scar by reducing the scars and improving the skin.
If we get any kind of injury or surgery wound then scar formation starts. The process of scar healing begins immediately after surgery and lasts for 1 to 2 years. Plastic surgeons can modify this process by getting them properly stitched.
Despite this, there are many things on which your results depend. Like what after-care instructions were provided to you after taking the stitches.? What is your skin type? Was your scar infected? Is your skin healing process slow or fast? Do you scratch the scar?
It is not practically possible like this, but nowadays people do a lot of research on Google or some doctor keeps saying that scar will not come at all, then it is important for you to have knowledge about it. The healing response of your body can be altered by silicone-based cream, silicone sheet or laser treatment, steroids injection.
Cosmetic or Aesthetic plastic surgeons are those who have MBBS, MS, M.Ch./DNB in Plastic & Reconstructive surgery degree and they mostly do cosmetic surgery. Plastic surgeons know where the final scars should be. Plastic surgeons use a microscope to accurately and precisely examine the wound and apply the perfect stitches. Looking at scar behavior, he knows when the stitches should be removed. For example, the stitches on the face are removed between 3 to 5 days. If stitches are removed at the right time, then suture tracts, also called hatch marks, can be prevented.
Plastic surgeons prescribe the right antibiotics as well as after-care advice while keeping in mind the possibility of infection.
If you have had your stitches done by another doctor, then you need to know when they should be removed. 3 to 5 days on the face, 10 days on the legs, 10 to 14 days on the stomach. Quite often the scars are reddish in the initial days and they turn black later on. So a medical-grade sunscreen with SPF-50 and above should be used. Along with this, you should use Moisturizer which contains Vitamin E, Aloe vera content.
You should start using silicone gel or silicone sheet 3 weeks after getting injured or getting stitches. You have to massage with silicone gel twice a day for 2 minutes. Take a small amount of silicone gel on the fingers and massage it with clockwise, anticlockwise, zigzag and irregular patterns on the scar.
You have to put the silicone sheet in the scar in the right way as shown in this diagram. You have to keep it for at least 22 hours a day and you should use it for at least 6 months. Silicone sheets like Cica Care and Epi-Derm are easily available.
Why should we use Silicone gel or sheet?
Whenever your scar starts to form, the fibroblast muscles in the body form collagen. If this collagen is produced in excess and irregularly, then we get an elevated scar called hypertrophic scar and keloid is formed. Silicone gel or sheet modifies the process of collagen preparation. This is an important step of scar treatment that you should not ignore. It will benefit you a lot in the long term.
Pressure garments help in scar maturation. Due to continuous pressure, the supply of blood vessels and oxygen to the scar tissue decreases. Pressure garments should be used in burn scars, it gives great benefit to the patient with hypertrophic scars and keloids. In the rest of the examples, for ear clip ear keloid and face burn, transparent plastic masks should be used.
It works in two ways.
Reflex effect- due to stimulation of peripheral nerve-muscle relaxes, reduces pain and increases the overall sense of well-being.
Mechanical Effect – venous return increases, lymphatic drainage increases, and movements between muscle fibers increase.
Now we will try to know when this scar should be treated. For this, you have to understand the four S's formula.
First S - Site of the scar - Are they located in “high-visibility” areas? Is your scar on a very visible part of the body? Or it is at joints or pressure areas such as the palms or plantar feet.
Second S - Symptoms - Pain pruritus means itching or itching, contracture “stretching” which means a feeling of tightness in the muscles, or hyperesthesia which means the area around the scar feels more sensitive.
Third S - Severity of functional impairment - To what degree is there functional impairment of a joint, skin segment, neck, orifice, or digit? That is, to what extent do you feel weakness in function due to scars, such as joints, skin segments, neck, opening parts of the body like mouth, nose, ears, etc., fingers of hands and feet.
Fourth S - Social stigma - What will people think after seeing your scar? Especially it is more in facial scars. They shy away from mingling with people. Some patients are worried about their scared area.
If your scars are old and are in an unfavorable location, then we can transfer them to the right place by surgery. Scar revision surgery should ideally be done after 6 to 9 months after your scar is formed. Sometimes we can reduce this time to 2 months. In scar revision surgery, if your scar is more in width then it is cut and sutures are made and a plain scar is prepared. This technique is called a scar excision. For the scar which is long, straight, and not parallel to the relaxed skin tension line, scar repositioning surgery is done. Generally, z plasty, w-plasty, geometric broken line scar closure technique is used in this. The common method is that any long scar you have is broken into small scars and irregularized until they are less noticeable. It is hidden by changing the position of the scar.
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Laser and light devices in scar management
Lasers have a special role in scar management.
The first is to accelerate the improvement of the color tone and texture of the skin by driving spontaneous improvement of the skin.
Secondly, correcting the scars formed by the natural process of healing.
Third, preventing the possibility of large scar formation in high-risk patients.
CO2 laser, Erbium, yag laser, PDL, KTP&IPL. These lasers are commonly used. Now we will see which laser should be used and when.
Everyone's scar is red in the beginning, this is due to the underlying blood vessels. Lasers that target laser blood vessels such as KTP, IPL, PDL should be used in this type of scar.
These are quite difficult to treat. A vascular laser can be used for initial red scars. If the redness is cured, then Erbium or CO2 laser is used for repigmentation. It can give the best results only if the treatment is started immediately after the injury.
Erbium tag or RecoSMA or Co2 laser is used for acne scars.
Q switch laser or Pico laser help in removing the black discoloration in tattooing with traumatic scars.
Scars with PIH, that is, the scars which are black, use Q switch Nd yag, or q switch Alexandria, or Erbium laser.
308 excimer laser repigmentation helps in hypopigmented scars ie white scars. 1550 Erbium laser is also very helpful.
In surgical scars, we can use PDL or KTP for redness, RecoSMA or Erbium, or co2 laser for resurfacing for scar treatment 1 month after surgery.
The important question is when laser treatment should be started. It depends on your scar analysis like how much redness is there, what is the type of scar, how much itching is there for the patients? Usually, it should start after 2 to 3 weeks. The exception to this is burn scar, it should be started a little late, after 6 to 8 weeks, the skin should heal well and there should be no complications of the laser.
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In this technique, microscopic injury is done from a microneedling machine or a dermaroller. Due to this injury, the skin starts to heal.
Dermabrasion is a treatment in which the edges of the scar are flattened.
Fat grafting techniques are also used in scar removal in some cases. In this technique, fat is removed from the abdomen, thighs, or buttocks area and grafted under the scar. It gives volume to the depressed scar so that the scar comes to the normal level of the skin. Fat consists of stem cells that dramatically improve the color, texture of the scar. It is used for burn scars, radiation scars, and very large scars where scar revision surgery is not possible.
In this technique, by putting balloons on the side of the scar, which is called a tissue expander, they increase the size of the good skin. Good skin is placed at the place of the scar.
Cosmetic makeup or micropigmentation temporarily reduces the visual discoloration of the scar. Tattooing and micropigmentation, this technique is also called permanent makeup. In this, the scar is covered with a tattoo of the natural color of the skin or any other tattoo color.
To understand these Scar Removal Techniques and Treatment in more detail, you can contact us on the given contact us on +91-8378860999 or write us an email at arraaesthetics@gmail.com or meet us directly by visiting the clinic. I hope you will help us make sure that the information given in this blog reaches those who need it.
Acne scars या pimple scar में skin में depression होते है क्योंकि pimple के बाद skin का collagen destroy हो जाता है.
In acne scars or pimple scars, there is depression in the skin because after a pimple the collagen of the skin gets destroyed.
“Some scars are worth remembering like battle scars" या फिर “ कुछ दाग अच्छे होते हैं| यह बातें सुनने में अच्छी जरूर लगती है पर क्या सच में हमें हर दाग, हर स्कार अच्छा लगता है!?
Take the first step to become a new you today by booking an appointment with Arra Aesthetics, a top-rated plastic surgery clinic in Pune.