Scarring Easily

[Aggie_Ama]

My husband has had a few wrecks on his mountain bike in the past couple of years that have scarred badly. One of them I helped clean and it really didn't seem that bad, a little ugly but not for the level of scarring it left. He is on Remicaid (an immunosuppresant) for Crohn's, we were talking last night and he wondered if that was why? Thoughts? Any way to help minimize, he is actually a little embarrassed at how bad his legs look with big scars.

[Pax]

I get hypertrophic scars, doc says it's from an excess collagen response to trauma (I wish I could get some of that excess back into my face ).

Here is a little more info on that type of scarring. My plastic surgeon says there's little that can be done right now, but maybe try Mederma?

[OakLeaf]

I don't use Mederma because of the paraben preservatives, but the active ingredient is onion extract. Believe it or not, I'm having good results taping garlic to the scar on my lip when I'm just hanging around the house.

If they're fresh scars, they need to be out of the sun for a year. I never bothered with scars on my body, and I'm not bothering with the one on my chin, which is pretty well hidden and mostly shaded by my jaw line anyway. It's an enormous PITA with the one on my lip, either putting a band-aid on it or a big white dollop of sunblock, EVERY time I go outside, even for a few minutes to hang the laundry etc.

Also you probably know that wounds need to be kept moist until they're completely closed. Never let a scab form if you can help it. There are a lot of options - Second Skin and petroleum based ointments are popular, but it seemed to me with my facial wounds that there was a point when the petroleum was really inhibiting healing. I dressed my recent incision with raw honey under a non-stick/Tegaderm pad and it healed really fast, better than with anything I've tried before, but because it's directly under my bra and HRM straps, I think I'm going to have a pretty good scar just because of the unavoidable rubbing.

[Pax]

... I think I'm going to have a pretty good scar just because of the unavoidable rubbing.

I've got a pretty big one on my back from the bra band, it was a pre-cancerous lesion removal and I could NOT keep the bra strap off it 100% of the time.

[OakLeaf]

I've got a pretty big one on my back from the bra band, it was a pre-cancerous lesion removal and I could NOT keep the bra strap off it 100% of the time.

Same with mine, a 12 mm dysplastic nevus meant a target 36 mm incision and in reality a little bit longer ... two layers of internal sutures (which are taking their sweet time to dissolve and are REALLY irritating) plus the external ones.

The good news about it being there is that no one but my husband and my massage therapist will ever see it. I don't think I have any swimsuits that expose that part of my back ... but I'm not sure about that.

[Pax]

Same with mine, a 12 mm dysplastic nevus meant a target 36 mm incision and in reality a little bit longer ... two layers of internal sutures (which are taking their sweet time to dissolve and are REALLY irritating) plus the external ones.

The good news about it being there is that no one but my husband and my massage therapist will ever see it. I don't think I have any swimsuits that expose that part of my back ... but I'm not sure about that.

Since I hit 50 last summer I've decided I don't care a bit about what people think of how I look, I put on a swimsuit and hit the pool, if they don't want to look at my pasty, plump, scarred up, middle aged body; that's just too bad. It's been very freeing.

[Aggie_Ama]

I learned of Tegaderm after his wrecks, that is actually how I dressed my serious abrasions from my wreck in a recent race (I posted a picture in the race stories). It healed amazingly, my mom was so impressed she bought me two boxes. There is no way he can keep them out of the sun, he has no air conditioning at the nursery he runs and would overheat if he didn't wear shorts.

Oakleaf - Does onion extract come in an oil? I am finding I am a huge fan of natural products now. I never knew you can speed along a bruise healing with arnica. And my cousin recently told me about traumeel, thieves and magnesium oil. I am going to be stocking up on those because I bruise so easily.