scar reducing meds?

[jsboob]

anyone know if any of these scar reducing meds you see advertised are any good?

[DrBermant]

anyone know if any of these scar reducing meds you see advertised are any good?

Scar Care and Second Stage Compression Garment Therapy make a big difference in the evolution of tissue. There is a problem in trying to test how good one is vs another: measurement of the degree of scars is just not very easy or effective. The studies have been more subjective since trying to document how soft, pliable, or mobile tends to elude scientific analysis. I have searched for years and still am not impressed with the research. Yet I still feel that scar care makes a critical difference for hand, burn, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Healing of your scar begins with your surgeon's careful incision into the skin, the delicacy of the surgery and how carefully the incision is sutured.  Assuming no infection, your scar from a plastic surgeon should heal optimally.  But there will always be a scar.  There are many intrinsic factors that are involved in scar healing and maturation.  For example, is the blood supply to the wound edges adequate, is there too much or too little pressure applied, etc.

Every single operation on every single patient is a different set of circumstances.  Scar treatment may be as simple as applying some antibiotic ointment and a bandaid.  And sometimes, more attention has to be directed to how the scar is healing.  This is best coordinated with your surgeon on an individual basis.  There are no over-the-counter medications that will answer all potential scar healing problems.  Therefore, before buying anything, it would behoove you to discuss it with your surgeon.

Good luck.

Dr Jacobs

[jsboob]

sorry I didnt make myself clear. Im talking about fully healed scars perhaps 2 or more years old, not necessarily  from gyne surgery. They are only a thin white line on the skin.
 There are several creams & oils advertised that claim to reduce the appearance of such scarring.
 Is it likely they would have any effect?

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

If you have a thin, flat white line scar which is two years old, that would be a satisfactory and acceptable scar.  There is nothing that would improve it nor restore your skin to its virgin, scar less state.

Dr Jacobs

[jsboob]

thought so, thanks!

[DrBermant]

sorry I didnt make myself clear. Im talking about fully healed scars perhaps 2 or more years old, not necessarily  from gyne surgery. They are only a thin white line on the skin.
 There are several creams & oils advertised that claim to reduce the appearance of such scarring.
 Is it likely they would have any effect?

Soft, thin scars are not improved by scar care which will also not address depigmentation or a "white" scar. I use scar care for my patients to help evolve the firm, thick component of a scar. Be careful of such advertising claims made by manufacturers without proof, photos, movies, or feeling tissue and that is the problem, they do not seem to have such evidence.

Some thin white scars that are in pigmented areas can be better hidden such as this example of Revision Gynecomastia Surgery moving them to the margin of the pigmented structure. But such a problem will not be managed by scar care alone.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[Swiftz]

there is one thing you can do .. tattoo over it