How to remove scars after surgery

Surgery is a relatively commonly used treatment method in today's clinical medicine. Through surgery, various diseases can be treated, various health problems can be solved, and patients can recover their health quickly and effectively. However, all surgeries will leave scars, and these scars will be more obvious. So, how to remove scars after surgery? Here are some relatively effective methods.

1. Apply topical medication

Scar ointments can be classified into ordinary moisturizing creams, anti-scar and anti-inflammatory creams containing steroids, moisturizing and softening creams containing silicone, and melanin-removing ointments used to lighten pigmentation. Since scars are normal connective fibrous tissues that heal wounds, they are inevitably formed and exist at any wound site. Topical ointments applied to the scar area are limited to minor therapeutic effects such as moisturizing, softening connective tissue, and lightening pigments, thereby improving and beautifying the appearance of the scar.

The fruit acid used for beauty treatment has a skin exfoliating effect at high concentrations (>10%), causing the original epidermal tissue to peel off and stimulating the metabolism of the dermis, thereby growing tender skin and smoothing out uneven scars. It is effective after several months. The cost of drug treatment for scars is tens to hundreds of yuan.

2. Silicone patch therapy

Silicone patches are applied externally to hypertrophic scars to prevent and treat scar hyperplasia. After using self-adhesive silicone patches on the scar surface, the evaporation of water on the scar surface can be reduced, the hydration of scar tissue can be increased, and the permeability of water-soluble proteins and various water-soluble inflammatory protein mixtures on the scar surface can be increased, allowing these water-soluble proteins to diffuse on the skin surface, reducing water-soluble proteins and products in the interstitium, reducing fluid pressure, promoting scar maturation, softening and flattening, and making the scar tissue lighter in color and closer to the natural skin color. Silicone patch therapy has been widely used since the 1980s and is currently the only proven effective means of scar self-treatment. Its non-invasive treatment method has a very low incidence of allergies and other complications.

Not all silicon patches are produced with the same raw materials, processes and technical standards. Silicone patches used for skin contact must be produced using absolutely sterile, impurity-free medical silicone gel in a sterile medical product production environment. In medical silicone sheets, process indicators such as density and elongation are also different. Silicone gel patches with a certain thickness have better water retention properties and are more effective in resisting the effects of pressure and temperature. From the perspective of self-adhesion, a good silicone patch can be used continuously for up to four weeks, while some silicone patches will lose their stickiness within one or two weeks and cannot fit closely to the skin, so they cannot play a good scar removal role.

3. Laser treatment

Laser treatment is suitable for superficial depressed and hypertrophic scars. When the laser acts on the skin, the scar part on the skin surface is affected by the laser, and other tissues are not affected. These parts that are not affected by the laser will accumulate more collagen and elastin, which help the regeneration and rearrangement of collagen in the dermis. In addition, laser irradiation will produce photothermal effect, photochemical effect, pressure effect, electromagnetic field effect and biostimulation effect on skin tissue, which will cause the damaged dead tissue in the skin scar to quickly pyrolyze, vaporize, or break into tiny fragments, which will be swallowed by the phagocytes in the body and excreted from the body, thereby achieving the purpose of smoothing the scar. The cost of laser treatment ranges from 800 to 8,000 yuan.

4. Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is suitable for superficial hypertrophic scars. When the scar area is treated with radiation therapy, superficial X-rays and beta rays can significantly reduce the number of fibroblasts in the scar tissue, impair their function, reduce the synthesis of collagen fibers and matrix, and increase the decomposition of collagen fibers, thereby flattening and softening the scar area. The cost of radiation therapy for scars is about 1,000-3,000 yuan.

5. Surgical repair

There are 4 effective methods for surgical treatment of scars

Scar excision and suture: A commonly used surgical method for treating scars, which can also be used for scars of smaller area.

Dermabrasion: A surgical procedure in which the epidermis and papillary dermis are abraded to improve irregularities on the skin surface, making it smooth and flat and similar in color. It is suitable for superficial scars left over from acne, smallpox, chickenpox, shingles, eczema, trauma, burns or surgery. If necessary, it can be performed simultaneously with scar surgical excision, and the effect is better than simple grinding.

Scar release and local reshaping: Smaller cord-like or webbed scars with tension can be removed and then a skin flap can be formed with the surrounding normal skin tissue to repair the skin defect at the scar site through cross-replacement.

Scar excision and free skin grafting: Larger hypertrophic scars can be surgically removed, and then free skin grafts are cut from normal parts of the body and transplanted to the scar surface to repair the wound and restore skin function.

Foreign medical literature shows that the recurrence rate of scars treated with surgery alone is high, and surgery combined with silicone gel sheet therapy is generally used to reduce the recurrence rate.