It Starts In Surgery
While scars are inevitable after surgery...
It is important to understand that scars will occur after surgery, and part of the appearance of a scar is dictated by your body and how you heal. However, we work hard to minimize your scar and offer treatments to help with healing so that you have the best possible scenario for the appearance of your scar and the healing of your wound.
minimizing them is our expertise!
Minimizing the appearance of scars starts with reducing tension on the wound and aligning the skin carefully so that it heals in the best way. We use a variety of methods to close wounds, and the best option for you will depend on the size and location of your wound.
Primary Closure
If your wound is located in an area of the body where some "give" in the skin allows your wound to be closed in a straight line, this is the preferred way to close your wound. We will work to align your wound in the natural lines of the body to allow for optimal healing.
Local Flap Closure
If your wound becomes large or is located in an area with too much tension to close it in a line, we will create a skin flap by making an incision next to your wound and rotating the healthy skin into your wound. This creates a scar in a unique pattern that will ultimately heal in a more discrete way by reducing extensive tension on the wound.
Full-Thickness Skin Graft Closure
If your wound is located in an area that a primary closure or local flap is not possible or would cause a deformity, we will use a skin graft to close your wound. Our first choice is to use a full-thickness skin graft, meaning that we will take a piece of "donor skin" from a discrete area on your body and place that over your wound. We will use a special dressing to compress the skin graft to your wound to give it the best chance of healing, and we will give you detailed post-operative instructions to care for your skin graft. With a full-thickness skin graft, you can expect a scar in the shape of your wound.
If your wound is too large for us to use a full-thickness skin graft, then we will use a split-thickness skin graft.
Split-Thickness Skin Graft Closure
For large wounds that are not able to be closed with any of the methods described above, we will use a split-thickness skin graft to close the wound. For a split-thickness skin graft, we shave a thin layer of skin from your thigh and use it to cover your wound. We will use a special dressing to compress the skin graft to your wound to give it the best chance of healing, and we will give you detailed post-operative instructions to care for your skin graft and your donor site wound. With a split-thickness skin graft, you can expect a scar in the shape of your wound and it will have a divoted appearance due to thin donor skin needed to cover a larger area.
What You Can Do After Surgery
Wound Care and Sun Protection
We will give you detailed instructions for wound care following surgery. While wound healing problems or loss of a skin graft is a risk after skin surgery, you can optimize your healing and reduce these risks by closely following post-op instructions.
Sun protection is the most important part of reducing the appearance of scars long-term. It can take up to a year for scars to fully flatten, and it is crucial to protect your scar during that sensitive time of healing and continue using sun protection long-term for best results.
If you would like to pursue additional treatments to help minimize your scar, we offer scar treatment with our aesthetician.
Scar Treatments
First, Stick to the Basics
Your body does an impressive work of healing with minimal intervention beyond simple wound care and protection from the sun. However, there are a few additional treatments that you can pursue to encourage further minimization of your scar.
BIOCORNEUM Scar Treatments
We recommend using silicone treatment over your scar once the wound has fully healed. Our favorite silicone product is BIOCORNEUM, which you can purchase from our office, and you can also find silicone sheets over-the-counter.
Mechanical Treatment of Scars
Yanet uses microneedling and microdermabrasion to mechanically treat scars. These treatments begin after the wound has closed and is healed completely. Microneedling creates microscopic channels over your scar, and this stimulates the dermis to produce new collagen and elastin to help with the health of your skin and appearance of your scar. Microdermabrasian is a procedure that produces deep exfoliation to help with the texture, thickness and color of your scar. Yanet will evaluate your scar and recommend the best combination of therapy.
AnteAGE Scar Treatments
Yanet uses AnteAGE growth factors and cytokines in combination with her microneedling treatments to help promote the healing of scars. AnteAGE is a growth factor solution that contains pro-healing, anti-inflammatory growth factors and cytokines and hyaluronic acid, which provides lubrication and promotes rapid re-hydration and volume enhancement within the upper layers of the skin. AnteAGE encourages skin health and improvement in scars, and it can also be used as an anti-aging treatment.
The Holiday Gift Card Sale is Happening!
10% off a 50 dollar gift card
15% off a 100 dollar gift card
20% off a 200 dollar gift card
Treat your loved ones (or yourself!) to a facial or treatment with our aesthetician! Gift cards can be used on any aesthetician services or on skin care products in our office (includes Elta MD, PCA, Biocorneum and Skin Script).