Cosmetic - reduce scars?

[Frozenbeef]

I had thyroid surgery recently and have a wonderful big smiley face along my neck now. It's rather annoying as i can't wear anything that shows the base of my neck and is yet another thing i get to be self continuous about.

Anyway i was wondering if anyone else had experience with having surgery and know any good tips/ products/ home remedies for getting rid of scars or at least reducing them so they fade into normal skin

Any help would be greatly appreciated :/

[Deleted]

Time.

Sorry brah...

I heard pregnant women use coconut oil iirc for stretch marks, that may help with scarring?

[Velaniz]

This friend of my SO's is always telling us about how great those Mederma products are. She used them for her pregnancy stretch marks, but apparently they work on scars to a degree too. The reviews and before/after pics all paint a promising picture of it.

http://www.mederma.com/
http://www.mederma.com/products/scar...t-advanced-gel

[Deleted]

There are laser treatment for scars available at high costs. If finance is not an issue, you should do this. It works by damaging your skin and letting it recover quite rapidly afterwards. The first thing you should do is visit a dermatologist, as one will likely give you the best guidance for treatment. There are chemical peels that you can buy, such as salicylic acid (not in pure form - often contained in bottles by 20% or 30%), which you use once in a while and let your skin rebuild itself. You should be longer in the recovery process, however.

The important thing to keep in mind is that there certainly can be vast improvements, so do not obsess over the matter.

[Trassk]

if anyone is wondering what scaring looking like after thyroid surgery.



I can understand why you'd be self conscious about it, although anyone with common sense would know what it is, others might make bad assumptions about it. You are best to research with others who have been though thyroid surgery on how they cover the scars.

[Frozenbeef]

I want it to look like that picture, currently mine looks similar to this



Just want it to fade into my normal skin colour >.<

[Deleted]

Know the feeling. I got surgery on my neck and the part that got cut open looks like a Vampire bit me.

Really no proper cure except time.

[Stelio Kontos]

Wear it with pride and say you got it in a knife fight with Zanzibari pirates.

[Deleted]

Really no proper cure except time.

That's simply not true. It should be given some time to heal on its own, but there are ways that the recovery process can be sped up. Read my post above.

[Deleted]

If it's not finished healing yet, rubbing bio oil in a couple times per day will help. If it's finished healing you're basically stuck. Laser can help I think and there are things that can lessen it, but catching it early and keeping it drenched in bio oil is your best bet.

[Deleted]

There is nothing in bio oil to help reduce scarring. It's just oil with fragrance, it works the same way as any other moisturizer would.

I dunno. If that's the case, then I guess any really good moisturizer would do right? People seem to suggest it works well for them, and it helped to an extent with some of mine, but didn't do much for the already healed ones. Never tried with just standard moisturizer though

[Deleted]

Observing the phenomenon in the thread with advice that is right on the edge of the wrong scale - visit a dermatologist. The same way you went to a surgeon to solve your initial problem, go to a dermatologist to handle the consequences. Strangers on the Internet only know so much.

[Stelio Kontos]

...I still think claiming you got it in a fight with pirates off the Spanish Main is a valid solution...

[Deleted]

Taking a different approach here, but OP, is it really something to be that self-conscious about? Are scars generally viewed as unattractive? I've got a ton of them from numerous surgeries and treatments on my chest (perhaps it's different on the neck) and I love them.

[Tripping]

I am lucky to have the only surgical scar on my scrotum. My arms and legs are riddle with burns and scars from failed cooking and rugby, but they have all faded over time. But they were only small.

Your best bet is to go to a GP or dermatologist to discuss options. In the UK at least, I believe that you can have cosmetic practices done on the NHS as they are an emotional influence to you. It may require additional surgery though, but I will say that if you just leave it then you would grow to be more comfortable with it.

[Deleted]

...I still think claiming you got it in a fight with pirates off the Spanish Main is a valid solution...

I have a scar on my eyebrow that splits my eyebrow in two, like and no hair grows there and stuff. It's only little but I always tell people I got it in a bareknuckle boxing match. Really I hit myself in the face with a snowboard when I was like 10 or something. No one ever believes that I'm secretly a bareknuckle boxer T_T

[Revi]

Had a similar scar on my chin after I split it open, really stood out. Unfortunately nothing really helped except time (didn't try laser), but now 2 years later it's completely gone. Try what people are suggesting here, but know that it'll definitely get better eventually.

[Tastyfish]

I had thyroid surgery recently and have a wonderful big smiley face along my neck now. It's rather annoying as i can't wear anything that shows the base of my neck and is yet another thing i get to be self continuous about.

Anyway i was wondering if anyone else had experience with having surgery and know any good tips/ products/ home remedies for getting rid of scars or at least reducing them so they fade into normal skin

Any help would be greatly appreciated :/

Silver, vit E, and coconut oil i think currently are the best things to look into if you don't want to see a professional, not sure tho.

[Stelio Kontos]

I have a scar on my eyebrow that splits my eyebrow in two, like and no hair grows there and stuff. It's only little but I always tell people I got it in a bareknuckle boxing match. Really I hit myself in the face with a snowboard when I was like 10 or something. No one ever believes that I'm secretly a bareknuckle boxer T_T

I had a nasty scar on my right index finger a few years ago. I always told people I got it from a rusty knife in a fight with an intruder in my garage.

It's true...the intruder was a big hobo spider. And I grabbed a rusty old hunting knife and tried to take a wack at it and cut my finger instead.

Creative truth-telling!

[Deleted]

For OP:



These are some of mine, some of the ones on the left were soaked in bio oil as they were healing, the ones on the right were not, so you can see the difference. It's not much, but they're definitely less noticable when they were soaked.

Edit: shrank the image, holy shit that was big.

Not the best image, and the lighting is obviously playing a part, they are still more noticable than they appear, even the ones that were healed with bio oil, but still definitely better than the ones that were not