Best products to minimise scarring?

Best products to minimise scarring?
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#1

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?

#2

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.

#3

Definitely Retin A.

#4

@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.

#5

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)

#6

Thank you @tinamiller very useful information! :heart_eyes:

#7

@tinamiller - my turn to hit you up about your wound/scar healing expertise. I just had to have some keyhole surgery around my abdomen (boo hoo!) and because I’m vain I don’t want the scars to show as much as possible. 2 were just glued/taped over and just look like little smooth (but red/scabbed over neat cuts) but 1 had a dissolvable stitch in it (apparently it wouldn’t stop bleeding so they stitched It) and is looking a bit wonky/knobbly and ugly from the stitching. They’re only a week old… Do I just have to leave them be for now before I can do anything to minimise the scarring as per our previous posts?

#8

hi @christined I hope you’re feeling better post surgery. I would wait until everything has actually healed (as in no break in the skin at all). Then very gently massage with micropore tape (this is the paper medical tape you can find in chemists) over the top as many times a day 5 - 6 for a minute to two each time. The tape provides some scaffolding in the early days - and if the scars still feel tender - drop it down - listen to what your body tells you. After that you can go in with the oil of your choice and continue the massage for as long as you feel it’s necessary. Hope that helps. Let me know if you need any further info.

#9

Thanks so much @tinamiller! Very helpful.
Interesting re the micropore tape. I’ll have to go find this.
A couple of the incisions are closed up and one of them (which needed a dissolvable stitch because it wouldn’t stop bleeding apparently) still looks/feels a bit tender and raw - bit worried that one is going to be a minger of a scar to be honest.

#10

Hi @christined sadly there is only so much you can do with scars as the structure of the tissue is different to the rest of your skin. It’s less elastic, has no pores or hair follicles and doesn’t react to products the same way unaffected skin does. If your suture site is still tender, definitely go easy on it (or leave completely alone until the tenderness has reduced) - the best you can do is help keep the tissue soft with the advice I gave above. Scars do always look fairly awful at first and given some time will often settle down to almost nothing without too much intervention. Thankfully the area where your scars are is not an area prone to kelloid scarring generally so while there will still be some marking in the future - look at them as badges of a life lived.