Prevention is always easier than reduction - so make sure to keep a wound moist while it heals, remove sutures as soon as the wound is closed, and keep the fresh skin out of the sun for a year. Yes, a year.
Mederma is based on onion extract. It also has paraben preservatives.
What I did with the scar on my lip is tape a slice of garlic to it when I'm at home.
It's impossible to tell whether it helped or not, but the scar is barely visible now, three months after my wreck, and seems to be continuing to fade. The only reason anyone notices it at all, I think, is the extreme measures I have to take to keep the sun off it - either a big white glob of sunblock, or a Band-Aid.
I had a mole taken off my back last week, and rather than oil- and especially petroleum- based moisturizers and antibiotics (which really seemed to inhibit healing of my facial wounds after the first few days), I'm dressing the 6 cm incision with raw honey. Even Western medicine speaks highly of the healing and antiseptic properties of raw honey when they've studied it. (Manuka honey is especially favored, but I'm just using a local honey.) We'll see how it heals - so far so good.
Last edited by OakLeaf; 03-21-2011 at 09:52 AM.
Speed comes from what you put behind you. - Judi Ketteler