Suggestions for Facial Hypertrophic Scar - Redness Reduction??? - (PICS)

[riceburner82xx]

     I had a rather bad facial injury as a kid at the age of 4 when I slipped on ice and fell face first onto the jagged edge of a flagstone.  The resulting scar was one that was indented and the scar tissue had fused to the underlying muscle tissue on my chin; thus causing abnormal skin movment with facial gestures such as a smile, "kissy face", ect.....  Having dealt with the very noticable scar for my entire life, 10 months ago at the age of 28 I decided to have the scar excised by a plastic surgeon here in Chicago. 

     The surgery has gone well; however at this point I still have a rather noticeable red Hypertrophic scar on my chin that catches the eye (please see pix).  I'm happy that the new scar allows me to smile and make facial gestures without compromising the way the skin reacts in an odd fashion to the underlying muscle as it did with the original scar, but at this point I'd like to take whatever paths are necessary to help accelerate the redness reduction on the area that's still quite visible.  Going into my adult & professional life; I feel that it's possibly detrimental to have a facial scar that most will notice, and I feel that it may affect my success throughout my life until it has reached the degree in which it does not catch the average person's attention.  I understand that scar's sometimes take years to naturally heal to their maximum potential where the redness has dissipated and it's not as noticeable; however I'd like to speed the process up so it's not noticeable to everyone in the near term as I don't want to wait 3-5 years for the maximum natural healing process to take place. 

     I've read information online and it seems that the following seem to be the most common methods of treating Hypertrophic scars.

• Kenalog Injections
• 5-fu Injections
• Laser Treatment
• Silicone Sheets / Gel
• Massage Therapy
• Combination's of the above

     In my case, most of the scar has already flattened, with the exception being the last 20% or so under my chin which coincides with the area where the middle of my tongue rests (soft tissue, nothing to massage against), which I believe is due to lack of being able to massage it properly since there's no bone or such to massage it against.  My main focus is to reduce the redness of the scar on the frontal portion of my face and directly below my chin & with the second focus being to reduce the "bump" on the end of the scar which is located directly below where my tongue is located that never flattened out like the rest of the scar did from massage. 

     From my understanding, 5-fu & Kenalog will reduce the bumped texture of the scar; however I haven't found much stating that it would reduce the redness of the scar.  Will it reduce redness?  Should it be used on the frontal part of the scar that's already flat and not raised or tented?  Will using either on the flat part of the scar reduce the redness?  Will it cause indentation in this area?  Should I only consider using 5-fu or Kenalog on the raised portion of the scar? 

     Laser treatment seems to be a common treatment to flatten & reduce redness.  How effective is this in my skin / scar type generally? 

     Silicone seems to be recommended for any type of scar.  Will this help to reduce redness in the scar?  If so, how much relief would I expect to see from this treatment over the course of 6 - 9 months?  Is is safe or recommended to combine silicone treatment with other treatments? 

     Any thoughts, suggestions, experience with a similar scar, timeline projections, recommendations, ect.... will all be greatly appreciated. 



Image Taken 7-20-11

Image Taken 7-20-11 - Zoomed In


Image Taken 7-28-11

Image Taken 7-28-11 - Zoomed In