How is a scar formed, what are good and bad scars?
A scar can develop for several reasons. The best known scars are those from burns, surgery or accidents. There are also several types of these. There are several types of plastic scars. For example, tummy tucks, lip lifts, face lifts, breast reduction or augmentation surgery, and eyelid surgery.
Why does the scar get ugly and when can we correct it?
In all cases, it is necessary to wait at least six months to a year after surgery, but it may take several years for the skin to regenerate. When the scar has sufficiently whitened, the tattooing can begin. All tissue injuries heal by scarring, but the appearance and behaviour of scars varies.
On the same body, different scarring can be expected on the back, neck or face. If the deeper level of the dermis is damaged tangentially and heals with secondary wound healing, an iron scar, called hypertrophic scarring, develops, most commonly seen in deep second degree burns.
Scars can form if wound healing conditions are not ideal. The quality of the scar is significantly affected by the way it is sutured. If not done properly, even good suturing technique can result in a spectacular scar. The most commonly used knotted stitches may heal nicely with good incision management, but a so-called ladder may be left behind if the suture is passed through the skin properly.
Its complete correction is only possible by removing the entire affected area of skin and suturing the wound with plastic surgery. However, depending on the tightness of the skin, these ladders cannot always be removed completely. Reshaping aesthetically or functionally disturbing scars often results in a much longer scar. However, this is made to be less visible or much thinner than the previous one, and restores the movement inhibited by the previous scar pulling. Unfortunately, it should be recognised that a scar cannot be removed by 100% and the extent of the scar is largely influenced by individual factors. This is also the reason for the keloid formation, the correction of which, even with the greatest care, is likely to have very little effect. Generally speaking, scar correction for aesthetic reasons is only performed in teenagers in very justified cases and only with parental consent!
Unfortunately, it is important to note that, as far as we know, all scars are visible and cannot be removed with 100%. It is therefore very important that the patient is aware when deciding to have surgery that there are irreversible consequences.
In these cases, the correction of invisible aesthetic scars is pigmentation, which will provide the client with a solution for many years to come!
