Definition:-
"Mark remaining after the healing of the wound or other morbid process."
Types of Scars:-
-Immature Scar
-Mature Scar
-Atrophic Scar
-Linear hypertrophic scar
-Widespread hypertrophic scar
-Minor Keloid
-Major Keloid
-Contractures
-Superficial Macular scar
-Ice pick scar
-Rolling scar
-Boxcar scar
1. Keloid scars:-
Excessive collagen production, which continues even after wound healing, leads to tissue overgrowth above skin level and is known as keloid scars. Keloid scars are initially purple or red and gradually fade overtime. They are itchy and painful and may restrict movement when near a joint.
2. Contracture scars:-
Contracture scars are generally formed due to an injury that causes significant tissue loss, such as burns or injury to the joints. The skin and underlying tissue pull together for healing, often restricting movement.
3. Hypertrophic scars:-
Hypertrophic scars appear on the wound site in raised, thick, discolored clusters. Generally, they are uncomfortable and red, often widening with time.
4. Atrophic scars:-
Atrophic scars develop below the skin surface, producing a sunken appearance. They become more prominent with time due to aging. The most common causes of atrophic scars are chickenpox and severe acne.
5. Stretch marks:
Striae, or stretch marks, are formed due to breaks in the connective tissue, caused by rapid shrinking or growing of the skin. It is common with rapid weight loss, adolescence, pregnancy, and bodybuilding.
6. Adhesions:-
Adhesions are scars that can develop between unjointed internal organs. They often create problems during surgery.
7. Acne scars:-
Pimples or acne are due to the clogging of skin pores by dead skin cells and oil, enabling bacterial growth and pus formation. When not healed properly, the pimples can form scars.
What Causes Scars?
Scars are primarily the result of the natural healing process, wherein the body produces collagen to help repair the broken tissues. A dry crust, or scab, forms over the wound for protection. The scab falls offupon healing of the wound to reveal repaired skin, often along with a scar.
Symptoms of Scars:-
Symptoms associated with scar formation include:-
-Soreness
-Itching or pricking
-Redness
-Bumps on the skin
-Restricted movement of the body
Treatment:-
Various treatment options can help treat abnormal scars.
1. Surface treatment
Also known as skin resurfacing procedures, these treatments help remove the damaged skin layer, making way for new and healthy skin to form:-
-Dermabrasion/Co2 fractional: This procedure uses an electric machine for scraping the top layer of skin to reveal new, healed, and smoother skin. It is commonly used for minor irregularities in the skin surface, small scars, acne scars, and surgical scars.
-Chemical peels: This treatment helps reduce sun damage, superficial scars, and irregular pigmentation of the skin with the use of chemicals that aid in the removal of the surface layer of the skin.
-Laser resurfacing: Focused light is used generally to reduce the appearance of acne scars. It can be performed using wounding/ablative lasers that remove the top layer of the skin or non-wounding/non-ablative lasers that work by inducing collagen production.
2. Injection treatment
Three different types of injections are used for reducing scar appearance:-
-Dermal fillers: These injections can be used to plump up depressed scars and include semi-permanent fillers, synthetic solutions, and hyaluronic acid.
-Cortisone injections: Corticosteroids are directly administered into a keloid or hypertrophic scar to help reduce its size by breaking the collagen fibers. Additionally, their anti-inflammatory properties aid in reducing swelling, itching, tenderness, and redness.
-Collagen injections: These injections are used to temporarily fill in the sunken areas with collagen, a natural protein. It is vital to ensure that you are not allergic to collagen before undergoing thistreatment.
3. Surgery
Different surgical interventions can treat major scars, which include:-
-Cryosurgery: The surface layer of the skin is frozen with liquid nitrogen to help reduce the size of the scar or remove superficial skin lesions such as actinic keratosis.
-Punch grafts: Scarred skin is replaced with small skin grafts to treat deep acne scars.
-Surgical scar revision: A scar formed due to improper healing or other circumstances may be removed using plastic surgery techniques, repaired under local anesthesia, and then allowed to re-heal in a controlled way.
4. Radiation therapy:-If the scar is resistant toother therapies, radiation may be used.
5.Microneedling:-Microneedling is a well-tolerated, minimally invasive procedure that can be used for the treatment of scars with a high level of patient satisfaction. Further clinical studies are needed to develop standardized treatment protocols.
6.Dermapen:-A derma pen is an effective way to remove acne scarring and imperfections on the skin, the biggest benefit is the improvement in overall skin tone and texture that comes about after the treatment, along with the minimised appearance of pores in the skin, reduced superficial wrinkles and reduced appearance of stretch marks.
7.Platelet-rich plasma:- Platelet-rich plasma appears to be a safe and effective treatment for various types of atrophic scars. In addition, when added to ablative lasers or micro-needling, it seems to considerably add to the efficacy of treatment and reduce the side effects.