Go to your local pharmacy and you will find several ointments that claim to be able to reduce the visibility of your scars. Most scar ointments are either silicone-based or vitamin E-based. Some ointments will have both ingredients. Researchers have investigated the effects of silicone and vitamin E on the treatment of scars, and the results can help you choose the most effective ointment.
Silicone-Based Ointments
Studies have shown that silicone helps prevent and reduce scars. In 1995, Dr. B.E. Katz published a study in the journal "Cutis" in which he showed that treating chronic scars with silicone reduced their visibility in 56 percent of cases. He also showed that when scars are removed surgically, treatment with silicone prevented them from recurring in 79 percent of cases. These finding were explained in 2001 when researchers from the Institute for Tissue Repair, Regeneration and Rehabilitation discovered that silicone inhibits the fibroproliferative--scar-forming--actions of bodily factors called fibroblasts and fibrogenic cytokines.
The most commonly studied form of silicone scar treatment is the application of silicone gel sheets to the scarred area. The point of the gel sheets is to put silicone in contact with scar tissue, and silicone-based ointments accomplish the same thing; however, ointments might need to be applied more frequently as they get rubbed away.
Vitamin E Oil and Vitamin E-Based Ointments
One conventional treatment for scars is the application of vitamin E oil to the scarred area. Some scar ointments are based solely on this ingredient, while others merely contain it among other ingredients. However, according to an article on scar revision in the National Library of Medicine--one of the official National Institutes of Health in the U.S.--no topical treatment other than silicone gel sheets or silicon-based ointments have been shown to have any effect on scarring. Vitamin E can actually make scars more likely to form, as it has been shown to cause irritation in wounds that slows the healing process. A metastudy published in a 1999 issue of the "Journal of Dermatological Surgery" by Dr. L.S. Spencer of the University of Miami corroborates the idea that vitamin E does not help in the treatment of scars, and in fact may cause additional irritation in some cases.
Silicone and Vitamin E Together
Although most findings suggest that treatment of scars with vitamin E provides no benefit, one study suggests otherwise in a specific case. In 1995, Dr. B. Palmieri and colleagues from the University of Miami published a study related to scar treatment in the "International Journal of Dermatology." In the study, researchers infused silicone gel sheets with vitamin E and compared their effectiveness to non-infused silicone gel sheets in the treatment of scars. They found that scars treated with vitamin E-infused silicone gel sheets improved significantly more than those treated with regular silicone gel sheets. This suggests that supplementing silicone gel sheets with a vitamin E-based ointment may help further reduce the visibility of your scars.
References
- Pub Med: Silicone Gel Sheeting in Scar Therapy
- Pub Med: Silicone Sheeting Decreases Fibroblast Activity and Downregulates TGFbeta2 in Hypertrophic Scar Model
- Medline Plus: Scar Revision
- Pub Med: The Effects of Topical Vitamin E on the Cosmetic Appearance of Scars
- International Bibliographic Information on Dietary Supplements: Vitamin E Added Silicone Gel Sheets for Treatment of Hypertrophic Scars and Keloids
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