When your skin gets injured whether from a burn, trauma, or surgery, your body normally and natually repairs the damage. How your body repairs your skin depends on how deep the injury is inflicted on your skin. If the injury damages the superficial layer of your skin, when the wound heals, you’ll see new skin. And scars from that most likely fades over time. But when it goes deeper than the first layer, your body forms a tissue that is thicker than your normal skin and that usually becomes a permanent scar.
Sad to say, a scar can never completely go away. Admit it or not, it can greatly affect our self-esteem especially when it is located on areas that are exposed and not totally covered by clothings. We become conscious and always think that people look on it and judge our appearance because of it.
But you know what?, you shouldn’t be conscious about it. And there are always some regimen and methods that you can do to change your scars’ appearance or at least make it less visible. Here are 5 ways to do it.
1. NATURAL REMEDIES. The most economical, however, a long-term remedy. Since you will be using natural materials such as cocoa butter, lemon juice, vitamin E, aloe vera, coconut oil, cucumber, olive oil, honey, potato slices, and many more, it would take a lot of time for you to see results. It may or may not be effective, but there’s nothing wrong if you would give it a try.
2. SURGICAL REMOVAL/TREATMENT. There are many options depending on the severity of your scars. These include skin grafting, dermabrasion, excision, or laser surgery. Some of these treatments may need some time before being done because the scars need to be evaluated first. These procedures may be the quickest , BUT, definitely expensive.
Make sure that these procedure will be done by a professional doctor. ok?
3. INJECTIONS. You may get corticosteroid injections to minimize the size of your scars, specifically on keloids or hypertrophic scars.
According to a study published in the journal Dermatologic Surgery, response rates vary from 50% to 100%, with a recurrence rate of 9% to 50%. This means that after you receive a steroid injection for your raised scar, there is a 50% chance that the treatment will not work. Then, if the treatment does work, there is up to a 50% chance that the symptoms of your raised scar will reoccur. Also, treatment with steroid injections for raised scars usually requires two or three injections that are given one month apart in order to achieve the desired results and therapy can continue for six months or longer. (Source NCBI)
4. COVER IT WITH MAKEUP. Yes! makeup can do the work in concealing your scars. You just need a good concealer or foundation with full coverage and watch your scars disappear in no time.
“Scars can be all different colors, but to conceal them you’ll want to blend them into your skin tone.Because the texture of a scar can vary, it’s best to warm up the concealer between your thumb and your ring finger, then gently tap it onto the scar, blending the edges into the surrounding skin for a seamless look. For larger scars, like stretch marks on the stomach, try a hydrating liquid body makeup, which absorbs well into the skin. Using a blending sponge, tap the liquid over the scar, adding more product as necessary. Lock it in with a setting powder to avoid smudging and any product transferring onto your clothes. ” says New York City-based makeup artist Rachel Short.
5. OVER -THE-COUNTER SCAR MINIMIZER. Using this kind of product must be done as soon as the wound is closed or after removal of sutures. If you’re done using the natural remedies and find other ways too much for your budget, these products might help you out. CONTRACTUBEX Gel and Contractubex Overnight Intensive Patch. Both contains active ingredients such as Allantoin which is usually found in cosmetic products that promotes moisture and Cephalin Extract which hastens wound healing. Adding to that for Contractubex Gel is the presence of Heprin Sodium which has anti inflammatory action, regenerates skin cell and tissues and many more.
Contactubex Gel is available in 10g(Php600) and 20g(Php900) while Contractubex Overnight Intensive Patch is priced at Php157/patch and Php3,290 per pack(21 patches). You can buy both on Mercury Drug, selected Watsons branches, Rose pharmacy, Southstar drug and other drugstores nationwide.
So… which of the 5 regimens works for you?. Always remember that a Scar is a sign that you had been hurt, and most importantly, it is also a sign that you had healed. No matter how scarred you are… YOU ARE STILL BEAUTIFUL.
