I get a lot of questions from patients about commercials advertising “scarless surgery.” I’m here to tell you, unless you’re a fetus, you’re going to scar after a doctor makes an incision into your skin. A skilled surgeon will, however, try to minimize the scar and make it less visible. If you’re still not satisfied with the appearance of your skin after surgery, there are a few simple things you can do to avoid thick or hypertrophic scarring or keloids.
The easiest way to avoid heavy scarring is to simply apply pressure to the womb. For example, I’ve noticed that women who wear tight jeans after a tummy tuck tend to have less scarring across their middle section.
There are also gels, gel sheeting, silicone and silicone sheeting that all have been clinically-proven to diminish scars and restore skin to a more natural texture and color.
While at work, you can take a pencil eraser and just push it up against the scar for about ten minutes a day, every day you have the scar.
I don’t recommend starting any of these techniques until around four weeks after your surgery. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I have been a plastic surgeon for more than a decade, and I can tell you that there is no such thing as a scarless surgery.
