Best products to minimise scarring?

[christined]

I would love to know what you ladies have had success with in terms of minimising scarring from cuts and blemishes. My Mum has always pushed rosehip oil on me as a solution for quick healing without scars but I’m keen to get something more potent.

Another friend suggested that Jurlique had a lavender oil that worked really well for healing scars when she had surgery.

I also keep looking at The Chemistry Brand Retin-Oil and wondering if I should give this a crack. What have you guys used for this type of thing?

Hand Chemistry Retin-Oil

[tinamiller]

For cuts, avoid everything except the mildest of oils, lavender (mixed with a base oil), rosehip, olive - anything at all after initial healing as it’s not the oil that helps it’s the actual massage keeping the scarred connective tissues soft and pliable. (i’m an ex wound management nurse) I do like rosehip as it has low levels of a mild Vit A that naturally occurs in it. Retinol can help further down the track but should be avoided for the first 3 months. Blemish scarring if it’s the pigmentation type, gets great results with a combo of retinol, AHA’s, and Vit C and sunblock. For pitted acne scarring nothing over the counter will help - you need to bring in the big guns and see a cosmetic derm or a top notch beautician - if I’m allowed to make recommendations, I can highly recommend Claire Francoise in Prahran for the Melbourne ladies amongst us.

Also, I like the look of that product you posted above - that looks lovely for longer term use.

[tezzabradshaw]

Definitely Retin A.

[christined]

@tinamiller! Wow I totally found the right person for advice with you then. I’ve been discussing scar minimising treatments with a friend who just had a c-section and is paranoid about keloid and just general scarring as she’s prone to it. So you reckon just rosehip oil or similar for the first 3 months for that one? What about bio-oil?

And thanks for the beautician recommendation! Will definitely keep that one on file.

[tinamiller]

Rose hip oil is a winner, but let her know that she needs to be massaging 2 - 3 times per day to get the real benefit. This is also not an area particularly prone to keloid scarring (I’ve had 3 x ceasars and have 3 nice fine white lines for my surgeons efforts - sorry if that’s tmi!) . She also needs to let the wound heal externally first and to listen to her body if it gives her any discomfort to do this in the early days as the wound goes through 7 layers of tissue (cesareans are a big deal). Bio oil is fine - it’s paraffin (ie mineral oil) based so gives great ‘slip’ - but my personal preference is not to use this on healing skin as it inhibits oxygen exchange and can therefore affect wound healing. I know loads of people say this is amazing for scarring diminishment but it’s the act of massaging this in that is the real benefit. Hope that all makes sense - it can be hard to describe/discuss this properly without sending everyone off to sleep (or a shorter post…lol)

[christined]

Thank you @tinamiller very useful information!