When you are facing surgery, one of your biggest concerns beyond ensuring a successful procedure may be minimizing the scar that will remain. Some surgical wounds heal with skin buildup--keloid tissue--that can be not only unattractive, but also, because it lacks the stretchiness of normal skin, uncomfortable and limiting to your movement. If the procedure you will undergo is cosmetic in nature, you must pay extra attention to whether the benefits of the surgery will outweigh the disadvantage of having a scar. Genetics and your surgeon's skill are the two most important factors in how well your wound will heal and what type of scar you will end up with.
How to Heal Scars From Surgery
Step 1
Try to get a procedure that yields minimal scarring. The smaller your scar, the easier it will be to heal and the higher its chance of being cosmetically acceptable. Depending on the operation you are having done, a minimally invasive version may be available, so this option is worth asking about. That means that instead of making a large incision to reach internal organs, the surgeon makes small slits and runs catheters through them. The doctor then feeds long, thin surgical tools--along with a type of video camera--through the catheters to perform the surgery. The doctor uses a video display screen to visualize the surgery. Aside from minimally invasive techniques, different surgeons may make incisions of different sizes in regular procedures, depending on individual technique. Question your surgeon carefully about expected scar size and healing.
Step 2
Practice good wound care. Your doctor will give you specific post-surgical instructions. These directions will tell you how often to change your wound dressing, how to clean your scar and whether you should avoid certain activities or over-the-counter medications. A clean, dry wound heals best. In general, avoid over-the-counter ointments and creams unless your doctor suggests you use them.
Step 3
Maintain your immune system. This consists of the basic steps of getting adequate rest, eating fruits and vegetables and avoiding mental stress. Certain types of exercise may be appropriate, too, depending on the type of surgery you have had and the type of wound it has left. A strong immune system will speed healing and lower the chance that your wound will become infected.
Step 4
Avoid rigorous activities that could put stress on the wound. In the worst-case scenario, you could end up re-opening the wound. Your wound has the best chance to heal with minimal scarring if you take it easy for a while after surgery. Just how long will depend on the size and nature of the incision and is a good question to ask your doctor.
Step 5
Accept that some scarring is inevitable. Surgeons and patients have only so much control over how a scar eventually will look, and this fact should be taken into account when you are deciding whether to get a particular procedure, if the operation is elective. No one method is universally effective in controlling scar formation.
Tips and Warnings
- Respond quickly to signs of infection after surgery, including increasing pain, redness or pus at the incision site, bleeding that does not stop with pressure and chills, fever or night sweats. All scars fade somewhat with time, but if you still do not like the appearance of your scar after it has matured, surgical and laser procedures are available to reduce its appearance.
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