Scars

Q. I’m 23 and am having an operation to have a cyst removed from my back. I tend not to heal quickly so am concerned that I might develop a keloid scar. What do you advise me to do?

A. Unfortunately, there is little that the surgeon can do to prevent your scar appear if you are predisposed to them as influencing factors are more to do with the way that an individual’s skin tends to recover and precautions taken during the recovery period after the operation.

The factors that influence the growth of a scar are many: in general, light-complexioned individuals are more likely to have good quality scars than dark-complexioned ones. Also, in certain areas of the body, such as the chest area, behind the ears and on the shoulders, scars tend to be more evident.

Q. I’m a 28-year-old girl. A small scar appeared on my sternum that, after some time, grew puffy and protruding and rather unsightly. Is it possible to eliminate it by plastic surgery?

A. Keloidal scars and hypetrophic scars can be improved both by medical and by surgical treatments (scar revision).

However, before going for scar revision, it is necessary to wait about one year after the event that caused the scar to appear, in order to allow the scar to take its definitive shape.

The surgical treatment of keloid scars, which usually comes after a series of attempts with medical treatment, allows for the so-called “intralesional” excision of the growth, that is, without the complete removal of the scar.

The surgical treatment for hypertrophic scars, on the other hand, allows for the excision of the whole scar. However, even in this case, the probability that a low quality scar will re-form is high, as the skin characteristics of the patient make all the difference in the onset of pathological scars.

Q. I’ve heard of a treatment called skin dermo-pigmentation which eliminates scars. What is it and how does it work?

A. Skin dermo-pigmentation is a treatment used in cosmetic surgery to pigment the skin and cover the scars, especially the ones that have grown after mastectomy or reductive mastoplasty (breast reduction) operations. This treatment consists of making a tattoo (pigmentation) on the skin (e.g. on the areola of the nipple) in order to cover the scars and reconstruct the areola removed by mastectomy.

Q. Are there surgical procedures that don’t leave scars?

A. No. All surgical procedures produce scars but the surgeon is extremely skilled in hiding any incision mark as much as possible - for example, in skin folds, inside the nose, behind the ears, etc.