Scars can be a site of nightmare to almost all of us, unless they are worn with pride of course in cases of boasting those battle experiences! But today, we will be talking about scars arising out of cysts, burns, piercings, or any other kind of injury to the skin and how we can address their visibility and healing. Also, it will definitely be worth your while to stick around till the end of the article as we unveil some of the lesser known but easy techniques that might do the job for you if you have one of these type of scars.

Keloids, hypertrophic, acne, or contracture are few examples of the type of scars that may lead to an uneven site on that smooth skin of yours. In this article we take a look at the Hypertrophic scars – what they are, their causes, and prevention / healing techniques. When deposits of excessive amounts of collagen begin giving rise to raised appearance on the skin – the condition is referred to as the hypertrophic scars. Thickened, wide, and resulting mainly from an abnormal response to a trauma or injury the hypertrophic scars may be more difficult to get rid of than a regular scar which results during any wound healing process.

What leads to a hypertrophic scar? Is probably the first of many questions that may arise at this point. Like any other scar healing process – our bodies are tuned to produce repairing cells which are called myofibroblasts. In certain conditions when the production of these body repairing cells is done in excessive amounts it may lead to too much collagen in the system and as a result one gets hypertrophic scars. Owing much of its inception to simply the skin type and healing process, there surely are ways to treat them well. Dive into a few of these processes here and find out for yourself what may work best for you, if you have hypertrophic scars:

  • Laser therapy – effective, specially in newly formed scars, laser therapies work by burning and flattening the elevated scars.
  • Cryotherapy – this is where dermatologists and doctors come in! Freezing the portion of the skin where the scar is and then cutting it out in a non toxic and safe manner. They have shown to be well tolerated in a number of studies.
  • Bio oil – though it is marketed to be used for treating all types of scars, Bio Oils show positive results specially for the hypertrophic scars. Their validity has been confirmed by surveying a relatively smaller sample size yet with promising results.
  • Onion extract creams – topical gel made from the onion extract, are available over the counter and have proven to be effective in reducing the appearance of the hypertrophic scars – however there is limited clinical data to back it up for now.
  • Pressure and massaging – if you’re looking to try something quick, cheap and instantly available at your disposal then pressure and massaging is definitely to be tried out. Use of bandages of tapes to apply and massaging the affected area can have healing effects over a period of time.
  • Silicone sheets – this is something to be tried right after an injury as the application of silicon sheets may bring soothing non invasive healing to the area of injury. Available easily over the counter, these are also used as the first line treating agents for hypertrophic scars.
  • Surgery – if you are someone who has tried things and yet the hypertrophic scar hasn’t been healed to its fullest – we recommend you to go for surgery. After a year of having the hypertrophic scar one may get it surgically removed or cut out. The wounded area is then closed with stitches.
  • Bleomycin – a metabolite of a strain of soil bacteria, bleomycin has shown promising results when injected directly into a hypertrophic scar. Helping not only to address the appearance but also relieve the itch and pain – it is still in the process of wider acceptance as its clinical trials are needed to confirm efficacy. 
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