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ScarsSelf injury can result in scarring. Scars may fade within the first
two years, but scars are permanent. The skin is made up of two layers, the upper (epidermis) and the lower (dermis) on top of the subcutaneous [under-skin] fat. When we damage the dermis, scar tissue is formed from collagen. Depending on the severity / depth etc. of the damage, and the subsequent treatment received in the critical 3 week healing window, the scar will be minor or hypertrophic. It has been observed that deep cuts often cause raised, hard, itchy hypertrophic scars; often as wide as the cut was deep. Scar TreatmentsIf you do have a fresh wound, do consider hygiene; an infected wound has a higher chance of greater scarring. Clean the wound as First Aid information suggests, and bandage or use a plaster. For wounds that you do not expect to 'close' on their own, we highly recommend 'skin closure' plasters, such as can be purchased from chemists such as Boots in the highstreet, or from their website. See this Skin Closure page for details. For fresh scars or even older scars you may find that Elastoplast Scar Reduction Patches help reduce the scar. They can be expensive and may require a month of treatment, please see the Scar Reduction Patch page at Boots.
You can contact the Directors of LifeSIGNS from the Directors Page and email LifeSIGNS on info@lifesigns.org.uk and you may contact the Webmaster on webmaster@lifesigns.org.uk. |
Hypertrophic Scars A deep cut causes collagen to be used in the healing process, and this causes a raised, hard and shiny scar tissue to be formed. Keloid Scars These scars are almost identical to hypertrophic scars but are
less treatable. They tend to grow at the edges of scars and continue
to grow beyond the scar edges. Collagen All scar tissue is made up of collagen, a fibrous tough connective protein based cell type. There are many types of collagen. |