Scar Tissue after Surgery

Most people are apprehensive about getting surgery. Everyone dreads having surgery, but for some the fear goes beyond the operating room. People are often apprehensive about scar tissue after surgery. These scars after surgery may sometimes not only lead to unsightly disfigurements of the body, but are often sites of re-infections and super-infections. These include internal scar tissue after surgery. Hence, it is best to be knowledgeable right from the start about scar tissue after surgery.

How Does Scar Tissue after Surgery Form?

After a surgery is performed, the incised area is stitched back using sutures, which maybe self-absorbing or not. The superficial layers of skin secrete collagen to form a mesh, to connect the skin on the two sides of the incision. It is this collagen mesh that is visible as scar tissue after surgery.

Factors Affecting Formation of Scar Tissue after Surgery

• Age of patient.
• Type of surgery performed and depth of incision taken.
• Genetic tendency of a patient for scar formation.
• Presence of any other infection like diabetes mellitus, etc.
• Skin healing rate.
• Tendency of formation of abnormal scars like hypertrophic scars or keloid formation.

Prevent Scar Tissue after Surgery

• Do not smoke immediately after surgery.
• Do not consume alcohol immediately after surgery.
• Maintain a good and balanced diet after surgery. Ensure that you are eating healthy food to help speed recovery.
• Take proper rest after a major surgical procedure, to ensure proper wound care, which will reduce the formation of scar tissue after surgery.
• Remaining hydrated is very important after surgery. A good healthy body with proper electrolyte balance helps in healing.
• Try to bring down your weight before surgery. Presence of fat cells hinders healing, which in turn leads to unnecessary scarring.
• Use of silicone dressing over the incision considerably minimizes the chances of contamination of the wound site, thus reducing the chances of scarring.
• Try to bring down any chronic or long standing infection that you maybe suffering from to ensure that it is not a hindrance for quick healing of the incision. If you are a diabetic, try to keep your sugar level in control. This will help in reducing scar tissue formation.
• Avoid putting any stress on your incision, as this maybe a factor that may trigger off formation of scar tissue after surgery.
• Avoid excessive exposure to sunlight.
• Take antibiotics (as prescribed by your physician) to prevent any super-infection at the site of incision, which will help in reducing scar tissue after surgery. In case there is any visible symptoms of an impending infection, immediately contact your surgeon.
• Ensure that you religiously follow all the instructions given by your physician.

Getting Rid of Scar Tissue after Surgery

• Small and simple scar tissue can be considerably reduced by normal stretching and by doing daily routine activities.
• Deep tissue massaging helps to break down the fibrous mesh that is formed in scar tissue, thus, encouraging remodeling of the tissue and helping in scar tissue removal. However, this should be done once the scar tissue heals considerably. Generous amount of lotion should be used while massaging the scar site.
• Sometimes heat treatment is done at the scar site, which helps in drawing blood to the scar site, thus, aiding in quick healing of the tissue.
• Certain drugs like, vitamin E capsules and vitamin C tablets help in the healing of scar tissue after surgery. More on vitamin E scar healing. There are also certain creams which speed healing of scars and help lighten them considerably, although it is not possible to eliminate scar tissue after surgery completely only by the use of topical creams. These topical creams include corticosteroids and antihistamine creams.
• Although there are certain cosmetic surgeries for scar removal, but the truth is that any surgical procedure will involve taking an incision, which in turn will leave a scar (albeit a smaller and less visible one if it is a cosmetic surgery that is being performed). Furthermore, surgery is contraindicated in people who have keloid formation tendency or those who develop hypertrophic scars.
• For people who have a keloid formation tendency, surgeons can make use of steroid injections to prevent the chances of formation of keloid and excessive scar tissue after surgery.

Read more on how to get rid of scars.

This was all about scar tissue after surgery. To ensure that you're always in prime health, try to make an informed decision about the three important 'S' - your surgery, your surgeon, and your scar tissue formation tendency.