Some young patients will ask some questions about scars before surgery, fearing that their scars will be ugly after surgery and will affect their daily lives later. So today we come together to talk about scar care.
Scars are an inevitable product of the wound healing process and are the fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after skin damage. The general wound repair process includes granulation tissue formation, collagen filling, wound contraction, epithelial crawling covering, and collagen remodeling. 1 to 3 weeks after stitch removal, the scar will gradually widen, become convex or sunken.
The appearance of the scar mainly depends on two factors: wound tension and personal constitution. Excessive tension can stimulate scar hyperplasia and make the scar wider. In general, hypertrophic scars tend to occur in active parts, such as the lower jaw, which is more active, and the patient will move the jaw during eating and talking during postoperative rehabilitation, which will affect recovery to a certain extent.
As for the personal physique, we have to talk about the scar physique. We often say that patients with "scar constitution" tend to leave scars. So how do you know if you're scarred?
Scar constitution is judged by the performance of scar healing, such patients after the wound is healed, its surface scar will continue to proliferate outwards, protruding on the surface of normal skin, accompanied by symptoms of pain, red itching, contractures, and even affect functional movement. But people with scarring physiques are actually a smaller proportion of the population, so there is no need to worry too much.
Postoperative maxillofacial scars affect the appearance, cause a shadow on the patient's psychology, and even have a negative effect on the patient's life and learning. If some suitable patients have requirements for appearance, we can consider using beauty threads during surgery to achieve the best results. So what can patients do after surgery to improve the appearance of the scar as much as possible, and even achieve the ideal state of scar thinness, flatness and consistency of color?
1. Scar care. Clean, infection-free wounds heal faster, and there is no inflammatory stimulation, scars generally do not grow wildly, if dust into the wound, it may cause tissue reactions, resulting in scar proliferation, so it is important to pay attention to cleaning the wound, keep the wound clean and dry, can be used 0.996 normal saline and 3% hydrogen peroxide alternately washed to remove exudate and covered blood scabs.
2. Scar massage. Care should be taken several times gently, persistently, and do not damage the surface tissue of the scar. If there is a lesion, it should be performed after cure. After clinical observation of scar massage treatment, to a certain extent, it can reduce the formation of scars and achieve certain cosmetic effects.
3. The use of anti-scar drugs is effective for some unstable scars and proliferative scars, and ineffective against old scars.
4. The use of external ointments can soften connective tissue, fade pigments, thereby beautifying scars, generally can be prescribed in outpatient clinics.
Note: If the wound is red and swollen, itchy or painful, it may indicate infection, pay attention not to scratch at will, and should be treated in the hospital in time. If you find that the cable head is popping up, the outpatient registration can be removed, and there is no need to be nervous. Do not touch the water until 24 hours after the wound is removed.
Figure 1: Some patients have basically disappeared after re-examining the oromaxillofacial scar after stitch removal
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