What is the best product for reducing scarring from surgeries?
vitamin E oil, rub it into the scar at least twice a day. it works wonders.
Calendula ointment works pretty well…Michelle, do you just break the E gel caps open? thanks
One & only Tea Tree Oil!
Aloe vera (sp?) especially straight from the plant.
goes that really work cause i had surgerie when i was a kid…i had my spleen removed…and i have scar that splits my abdominal regions…it makes them seem more defined thought which is nice, but it is rather unsightly, but i don’t even notice it anymore
Thanks all! … I was aware of most of them, but will relay the info.
Tea Tree is for cleansing, I didn’t know it was good for scars too, thanks.
Michelle: Do have a particular product name? (I take it that this is not plain Vit. E Caps, but something else). Where can you buy it? THANKS! (Mufasa)
I spoke with a pharmacist and they said alot of people just buy the gel caps of vitamin E and squirt it out, She said it was cheaper… I bought my daughter a bottle of 28,000 iu of E liquid for about $11 Canadian… less hassle and waste. There are two forms of vitamin E generally available, natural & a synthetic.
None of this shit does anything. The only substance I know of that will prevent scar formation after surgeries is derived from pig intestines (it both acts as a scaffold and releases various growth factors)…and thanks to the government, it won’t be available for years, if ever. So if you really want to reduce scar formation, VOTE LIBERTARIAN!
Go to the pharmacy and ask for a product called “Mederma.” It’s OTC. It’s pricey, ($35 a tube) but a tube lasts 6 months. It’s specifically designed to reduce scars after surgery. I used it on some stretch marks, and it worked wonders, even when Vit E and Retinol didn’t do a thing.
Hey, is there anything I can do about the scar I have on the bottom of my chin that I got from hockey? I can’t grow any hair on my chin because there’s a big line there. So is there anyway I can get hair to grow back and get rid of the scar or is it a lost cause?
Vitamin E cap and oils can help but the most effective products, if a little expensive, are silicone patches. They must be worn for a few months but do wonders to make the level and color of scar tissue conform to surrounding tissue. And they are reported to work on scars up to 20 years old.
I have been looking for those silicone sheets, most pharmacies don’t stock it. You have to get them at a pharm. supply house
At age fourteen I was lucky enough to witness a sight that has
remained with me well into adulthood…It was that of Sergio Oliva
in a1976 guest posing appearance at the MR. USA in Passaic, N.J.
He had just hit his infamous “most muscular pose,” and the
place F#@KING EXPLODED!..This impression has always been filled
with wonder for me, for it was almost like getting a glimpse of GOD
while you were still alive, and he just happened to be wearing a
“Bronze suit of Awesome Muscle!”
but what about hair growth where the scar is?
I’ve had a major scar running up my left arm after surgery to repair my tendons, the wound had to be left open so that there was enough room to let the muscle and tenodns move, so as you can imagine ther is one hell of a scar, anyway the best thing that i found was that silicone patches do work but only to reduce the inflamation and soreness of the newly forming tissue and tey seemed to lose effectivness after that, the most important consideration is keeping the scar “moist” and moving i.e massage it every hour, i had great results with Wheatgerm oil and then rub E-45 cream on top of that every hour for about a month and then you can get away with it once or tice a day until the scar goes back to normal tone (mine took two years though!).
you can get wheatgerm oil from bodyshop, and yes i do know that the oil contains vitamin E but it is alot more effective in more exoerience.
I got a little bottle of straight vitamin E oil from the drugstore (about $3 for about an ounce). I do not break open the vitamin caps. You don’t need to use much and it is extremely viscous.
As for those of you who say it won't work, I had a SEVERE bike accident 10 days before college graduation - I would have split my skull in two had I not been wearing a helmet. My chin was ripped open and my glasses slashed my nose. I used E straight from the bottle on the scabs 2-3 times a day, it looked really disgusting, but I could not cover the wounds with bandages. The scabs were 90% gone by graduation, and the skin was almost completely regenerated. I only have a small, almost completely unnoticeable, scar on my nose. I also used E to break down the scar tissue on my feet after reconstructive surgery on both. The stuff works, but you have to put it on faithfully for a few weeks, even after the scab is gone.
Vitamin E does NOT work, damnit. Studies have shown it is useless for improving the appearance of scars and stretch marks.
One study begins, “Anecdotal reports claim that vitamin E speeds wound healing and improves the cosmetic outcome of burns and other wounds. Many lay people use vitamin E on a regular basis to improve the outcome of scars and several physicians recommend topical vitamin E after skin surgery or resurfacing.” The study then describes the experiment performed, and ends up concluding, “This study shows that there is no benefit to the cosmetic outcome of scars by applying vitamin E after skin surgery and that the application of topical vitamin E may actually be detrimental to the cosmetic appearance of a scar. In 90% of the cases in this study, topical vitamin E either had no effect on, or actually worsened, the cosmetic appearance of scars. Of the patients studied, 33% developed a contact dermatitis to the vitamin E. Therefore we conclude that use of topical vitamin E on surgical wounds should be discouraged.”
People who use vitamin E and report good results are either not being objective or would have gotten those same results without vitamin E. But in spite of the evidence, you people will just claim, “What does science know?” and continue wasting your money and fucking yourselves up, just because you want to believe so much. The very next time you get seriously ill, however, you will be at the door of science pleading for help. You guys (and gals) are fucking jokes.
Gee Mike, I’m sorry to have doubted your obviously superior knowledge of the universe. I’ll bet I can find a study or two that says the COMPLETE opposite - I would, but I have better things to do. My guess is that Dale wanted to know our personal experience, or he would have just done a search for the info from a medical journal.
I have quite a number of very visible scars, both from minor abrasions and deep wounds, I scar extremely easily. In the instances where I used E on the injury immediately after it happened (after a scab formed) my scarring was minimal, if any occured at all. Most of the time I don't bother, as I don't really give a shit if my latest rugby scrape leaves a discolored spot on my leg for about a year. However, when the skin on my chin was ripped open by pavement and my nose was slashed my glasses it DID matter and I have almost no scarring. That is my personal experience, I'm sorry it conflicts with your vast knowledge base.
Dale - from my experience, E works very well. It certianly doesn't hurt to try, and if you get irritation from it, stop using it. I would not use it on an open wound, put it on the scab/new skin.