Management of Scars

Scars may be due to surgery, trauma, or a skin condition such as acne. Most scars can be improved and there are a number of techniques available. Many scars require more than one technique for best results.

Fraxel Laser
Fraxel laser is a major break-through in the treatment of scars. Its results have been scientifically shown to be better than any other laser system for treating scars. It uses a simple but ingenious principle of making hundreds of thousands of microscoping laser pin-pricks in the skin. This causes re-modeling of the skin and regeneration of new collagen in a very even distribution, smoothing out the clumps of collagen that exist in scarred skin. Typically a series of 3 to 5 Fraxel laser treatments are recommended at monthly intervals.

Subscision
Subscision is an excellent procedure for helping improve indented scars. It involves making the area to be treated numb with the use of local anesthetic (creams and injections). A needle is then inserted into the skin and swept backwards and forwards and side to side under the skin to break up the scar tissue that is pulling the skin inwards at sites of scars. Once the scar tissue is separated, the skin is free to lift up to its correct position. This procedure usually results in some mild to moderate bruising and swelling in the proceeding days.

Scar excisions
Sometimes re-excising all or part of a scar and re-suturing more carefully and precisely is the best management for a scar.

Fillers
Some depressed scars may be raised by injecting one of our safe filler agents beneath it, allowing it to sit flush with the surrounding skin. We use non-permanent fillers because of their excellent safety profile. We find that we achieve some permanent improvement with them, however. The longer skin is held in a good position, the more likely it is to stay in that position when the temporary filler has dis-solved. We also use fillers to hold the skin in a good position while the skin is healing and remodelling itself after subcision and before or after a series of Fraxel laser treatments.

Cortisone injections
Most raised or thickened scars will flatten with the use of injected corticosteroid.

Silicon sheets, massage, and taping
Silicon sheets, massage, and taping have all been shown to help flatten raised scars if their use is regular and prolonged.