In plastic surgery, I deeply feel that scars are the most common disease in outpatient consultation.
Every day, I receive a large number of beauty seekers troubled by scars. Looking at their eyes and unrealistic expectations, I want to write a popular science article on scars more and more.
No chicken soup, no dog blood, Dr. Fu told you several truths about scars.
Scars are one of the natural enemies of beauty. Whether it is knife cuts, surgery or severe burns, scars of different degrees will be left.
As far as the current medical technology is concerned, scars can only be faded and cannot be eliminated.
Is the scar what?
To know scars, we must first know skin.
This seemingly simple structure can be divided into stratum corneum, epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous tissue at least.
When the injury only damages the epidermis or superficial dermis, the wound surface will heal soon. When the damage reaches deep dermis or even deeper, the damaged area needs to be filled by producing granulation tissue, which will eventually become ugly scars.
Scars are the inevitable result of post-trauma repair. Any operation is an injury, so scars can never be removed by surgery. Surgery can only fade, reduce or change the shape of scars.
What are the types of scars?
Medical scars are divided into three types:
- Common scar: Generally, the color is slightly lighter than normal skin, Soft texture, some will appear shrinkage or depression. Proliferative scar: obvious redness, protrusion, texture flexibility, most patients will also feel pain, pruritus, the vast majority need active treatment. Keloid: obvious protrusion, often spherical, color red or similar to normal skin, texture is very flexible, may be accompanied by obvious pain, pruritus, the most stubborn.
Eighteen weapons against scars
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Anti-scar drugs: It is very effective for unstable scars and hyperplastic scars, with minimal damage to patients, but it has little effect on old scars.
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Anti-scar sticking film and pressure therapy: It is more effective for protruding hyperplastic scars. Applying pressure to scars with customized elastic sleeves can effectively limit the development of hyperplastic scars, fully soften scars, and create conditions for later surgical treatment.
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Scar injection: Scar ointment and film have no effect, so scar injection is needed. However, this method is more suitable for scars with small area, and the injection process is more painful.
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Surgical resection: If the appearance of old scars is not good, they can be resected and sewn up again. During the formation of new scars, doctors can intervene by various means to make them as inconspicuous as possible.
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Surgery-local injection combination therapy: When hyperplastic scars and keloids are too large, the scar edge needs to be preserved, and scar injection should be injected after partial resection.
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Surgical modification or skin grafting: Any kind of scar may cause contracture, limit joint movement and even distort facial features. At this time, surgery is needed and reasonable reduction is required. Sometimes, although the scar length will be slightly prolonged, reduction will improve the overall beauty.
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Fat injection: At first, some doctors used autologous fat to fill the sunken scar, but unexpectedly found that the quality of the scar had been improved.
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Full face preconstruction and reconstruction: Through dilator technology, stem cell technology, free blood vessel and skin flap transplantation technology, a face is reconstructed from the patient’s anterior chest skin and transplanted to the severely damaged face. This is the first technology in China and is called “Chinese face replacement”.
Injured, how can we reduce the impact of scars?
From the moment of injury, the body’s repair mechanism has already started. At this time, accelerating the healing of the wound itself can limit the scar. The following points, you can get good results with a little attention:
- Complete debridement and suture: Clean, non-infected wounds heal faster, And there is no inflammatory stimulation, Scars don’t usually grow crazy. If it’s a bruise, Never remove the scabs after fully washing the wound, It is better to let it [ripe fruit and ripe fruit], Constantly stimulating the wound surface will make the scar obvious. Avoid spicy alcohol and tobacco: Although there is no strong clinical evidence, However, long-term observation still found that eating spicy food, smoking and drinking can promote scar hyperplasia. However, According to folk legend, eating soy sauce will deepen the color of scars, which is totally nonsense. Reduce activities: Most of the time, trauma occurs in joint parts. Frequent activities of the skin around joints will obviously stimulate scar hyperplasia, so it is best to reduce activities. Then the problem comes, and someone will ask me how to do with injuries around my mouth. The answer is to talk less and eat a little. Early application of silicone preparation: the wound can touch the water 24 hours after stitches are removed. Be careful to keep the scar clean and scrub it gently. Apply silicone gel to accelerate scar maturation and avoid scar hyperplasia.
Pay attention to the above matters, even can avoid some scar plastic surgery, even if still need surgery, also can greatly reduce the difficulty of the operation, reduce surgical trauma and improve the effect after the operation. On the way to fight against diseases, please don’t let your doctor fight alone, must believe in the doctor, cooperate with the doctor.
Which kind of scar should be treated surgically as soon as possible?
Often people have just had their wounds sutured and rush to plastic surgery for consultation the next day.
Once the wound is sutured, it is not suitable to operate again within three months. If the operation is performed again rashly, it is equivalent to aggravating the inflammatory reaction of local tissues, which is tantamount to adding fuel to the flames to the scar.
At this time, you need to wait patiently for the scar to stabilize, actively cooperate with the doctor for treatment, take drugs on time, avoid eating and reduce activities.
However, there are some cases, even if the scar is still red and swollen, surgical treatment should be carried out as soon as possible.
For example, some hyperplastic scars and keloids need immediate surgery because contracture affects the position of the facial features or causes joint stiffness, otherwise it will lead to joint stiffness or facial features skew, and even if the scar softens, it cannot be recovered.
Human beings still know little about many diseases, and scars are one of them. However, the completion of the Human Genome Project has taken the first step in the Long March to speed up the exploration of the mysteries of life. I believe the mysteries of scars will be uncovered in the near future.
Editor: Yidan
Author: Fu Shibo