All You Needs to Know about Hypertrophic Scar Treatment – Updated Article With New Information

The most standard hypertrophic scar treatment is to have steroids injected straight into the scar. Patients receive an injection every 4-6 weeks. After several rounds of this type of hypertrophic scar treatment, the scar should noticeably decrease in size and become lighter in color. The healing process can be very slow, but luckily the steroid side effects are minimal. Sometimes collagen injections are done instead in order to puff out the surrounding tissue to make the scar less noticeable. But such injections must be repeated for as long as the scar remains in order to maintain results.

There is a newer type of hypertrophic or keloid scar treatment, and it entails using a pulsed dye laser. The beam from the laser is applied to the scar and the area around it repeatedly for several weeks. Soon the laser destroys the scar, leaving bruising in the surrounding area. This keloid scar treatment is not painful and certainly does not require nearly as much as much time as surgery.

For keloid and hypertrophic scars that are not responsive to the above treatments, surgery may be recommended by your dermatologist. Patients are given an anesthetic and then the whole scar, along with the surrounding tissue, is surgically removed. Sometimes a silicone sheet is placed on the surgery site in order to help the scar heal properly and to keep more scars from forming in the same area.

The use of silicone sheets is probably the most effective hypertrophic and keloid scar treatment method. Originally they were only used by medical professionals, but now they are in popular use for minimizing the redness, stiffness, itchiness, thickness, and size of the scar. Silicone sheets make the scar flatter, softer, and more supple, and they prevent the formation of new hypertrophic scars. Silicone sheets can currently be purchased with a prescription. A silicone sheet is place onto the scar and works by applying pressure to the area, which is what eventually causes the scar to decrease in size. Silicone sheets work better on new scars, although they have also shown to be effective in older hypertrophic scar treatment as well.

There are other silicone treatments in ointment form, like gels, creams, and polyurethane dressings, but they are not as effective. They are not as easy to use and their effects are still not fully clear for hypertrophic scars. There are also creams like aloe vera and onion extract based creams, but they only have subtle effects.

In general, you should keep in mind that it is virtually impossible to completely get rid of scars. They can be improved immensely, faded, or reduced, but it is difficult to make them disappear altogether.

For the original article, click here

For more information on scars, go to:
en.wikipedia.org

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.