When the injury is small, it often heals by itself. Keeping it clean to avoid infection is important but scarring is still likely. When the injury is bigger or deeper, it needs to be closed with stitches, also called sutures. Stitches are actually a type of thread. After cleaning, and hopefully making it numb with medicine like lidocaine, the edges are sewn closed. The stitches can be made from various materials like synthetic threads, nylon threads and silk threads.
Some stitches dissolve on their own when they have healed the wound properly. Depending on the situation, stitches that need to be removed are sometimes better. Experience counts. The doctor caring for you will have to make that decision.
Once the wound has closed, the scarring process begins. The scarring process is different for each person depending on their skin type and how the wound was treated. Sometimes, scarring can not only be different on the same person, but the same wound can heal half great and half with bad scarring. There are many factors that contribute to healing. The direction of the injury counts. There are actually lines in the skin called Langers Lines of healing where an injury along them tends to heal better and across them worse. Naturally, a jagged injury, or one where the surrounding tissue was badly damaged tends to heal with worse scarring.
Stitches are the most common way of closing wounds, but now we also have special tissue glue and adhesive closures. All can be used to close any type of wound, from small cuts to deep, jagged incisions. Again, experience of your doctor counts.
The stitches themselves can be made from either natural or synthetic materials. Permanent materials such as nylon, silk and other synthetic threads are often used for sutures that will be left in the body for a long period of time, where we need longer support for safety. While dissolving materials such as gut, chromic, PDF and others are used for sutures that will dissolve on their own. Each choice maintains strength for different amounts of time, again depending on what is needed.
While stitches can be scary, they do not have to be painful. There are many different techniques and ways to administer painless stitches, including using a topical anesthetic cream with or without then injecting a numbing agent into the skin before administering the stitch itself.
When we get a cut, the body will heal itself by producing collagen. Collagen is a protein that gives our skin its elasticity and strength. It also makes up about one-third of the total protein in our bodies. The less collagen we need to bridge the gap, the less scarring remains. Excess collagen will make an ugly scar. I little too much scar tissue is called a hypertrophic scar. If the scar grows beyond the area of the cut, like a tumor of scar tissue, it is called a keloid scar.
Scarguard is a revolutionary product that can help to reduce the appearance of scars by helping your body melt the scar tissue either as it is forming, or on an old scar. Our skin makes an enzyme called collagenase that melts scar tissue to help recreate the shape that was there before. If we don’t make enough collagenase, we leave excess ugly scar tissue. Scarguard helps you body make more collagenase, leaving less scar. Used after the stitches are out, one independent study showed that using Scarguard resulted in 75% less scar at 12 weeks! It should be started after the stitches are out and the skin is closed.
The complete solution to scarring
Patented formula
Our unique patented formula sets Scarguard apart from other scar treatments. It dries quickly to form an invisible patch and activates the body's natural ability to produce collagenase. No ugly silicone patches, no messy creams and you can even over it with makeup if on your face.