Our friend and Board Moderator, Denice, shares what she's discovered about helping scars fade and reducing how noticeable they are. Denice would like to remind you that she's not a health care professional, and you should talk to your doctor or nurse before taking any medical action.

We're talking about scars here, healed scars, not wounds. By taking care of wounds in the first place you can decrease the severity of scaring.

Massage

This has to be the number one method for reducing the vividness and hardness of scars.

Any sort of gentle rubbing and massaging seems to promote healing (by increasing the blood flow in the tissue perhaps) and seems to break down and smooth the collagen. Remember, scars are made up of a special kind of protective skin that has a lot of collagen in it. Massaging a fully healed yet young scar can help reduce the hardness and perhaps reduce the redness.

You should gently massage the scar and the nearby area regularly, every day at least. In weeks and months you may find the scar is less red, less raised and softer.

Why not use some moisturiser? Perhaps using moisturiser with vitamin E helps, but remember it's the action of massage that helps the most.

Oils

Some people recommend commericial products like bio-oil. I don't know much about it, but if you ask on our Message Board again I'm sure people will share their thoughts and experiences.

You could ask your chemist (or Boots) for guidance on commerical products. You don't have to talk about self-injury - lots of people have scars or stretch marks.

Silicone Strips

These are cut to size and put on the scar area - they are particularly for raised, red scarring. They do seem to work, but in order to get results they need to be used for several months.

My GP prescribed them - I don't know if they're available over the counter - but my guess would be that they're expensive (I think around the £23 mark) - so I'd try asking a GP first. Some doctors may not like to prescribe them if you still cut, but I still cut and mine was OK about them.

The recommendation it that these are over the scar area for as long as possible every day - the recommendation is 9-23 hours. The strips should be washed with a mild soap (I use baby shampoo) and left to air dry or 'dabbed' dry using a non-fluffy cloth - I use gauze swabs (which I get from the Practice Nurse).

The main problem with these is that I find that although they're stickyish they don't stay on as well as they could. I've actually stopped using them just now because of this, but I think that now that it's getting cooler I'll be wearing tops with longer and slightly tighter sleeves which will help to hold them in place.

I also found that if the strips were cut too small then they didn't adhere to the skin so well. The ones I've got are almost square and I've found that the smallest size that stays in place is to cut the square into thirds.

Haelan Tape

This is a sticky tape which is cut anew to the right size every day. It reduces the redness of the scar.

It contains a steroid called 'Fludroxycortide'. I was prescribed this for the flat scars that are still red and also the areas where the silicone strips (as mentioned above) won't stay. You just cut a piece to the right size and stick it over the scar and leave it in place for the day and then re-apply a new piece the next day.

There are several things to remember about this product:

1. It contains steroids
2. It can only be used for a limited time
3. You need to cut a new piece to the right size every day.

If you'd like to read more about scars, read what I know about Skin Camouflage!

Denice

Many thanks to Denice for sharing her experiences with us.