Advice to Avoid Scars

My 3-year-old fell and gashed her head open on the fireplace hearth 3 months ago. The ER doc would not close it himself - he called a pediatric plastic surgeon to do it. She gave us some stuff called Skin Within, and I also bought some stuff called ScarTherapy (at her recommendation). It has reduced the scar immensely in the last three months. She told us that scars continue to heal for a year, so the improvments would continue. She was really great. Her name is Dr. Christine Carman, and her practice is called Plastiks for Kids. I was very concerned about my poor little girl's pretty face being scarred, but she said this stuff would help a lot. It really has. The ScarTherapy I bought at CVS. If you call Dr. Carman's office, I bet they can tell you where to get the other.

Good luck!

C.

I was about 5 when I was attacked by a frightened cat. I had 6 stitches and running stiches under my skin across my face. The plactic surgeon came in to do the job, b/c the tears were so bad. Other than being terrified at the blood, I don't even remember the pain, so your son should be fine... in fact, I still love cats. My scars healed up very nicely without any special treatment and most people don't even know I have scars. I can see them (if I look closely), and I love them... they are my little battle wounds! When I had the stiches removed, they cleaned them and gave them to us to keep. My mom wrote the story on a little index card and laminated the stitches on it. I showed that card to everyone when I was little (it's still in my scrapbook!) That really helped me overcome fears when I was little too!

A. how are you? Most importantly how is the little one? I see that you have all ready recieved advice, but I thought I would let you know that my son had surgery when he was only 6 months old by Dr. Christine Carmen she was then at Medical City of Dallas. She told us to keep it out of the sun and use skin therapy patches with silicon everytime we were out in the sun, and she presrcibed an ointment for all other times. My son is now 3 and is scar is WONDERFUL!!!!! I could not be any happier. I also recently just had my thyroid removed and was cut across my neck. My surgeon advised me to use the skin therapy patches as well, and keep it out of the sun at all times for at least 6 months by wearing collar shirts or just the patches. When I am not using the patches I rub mederma on. I just went in for my 6 week check up and my Dr. was amazed on how fantastic the wound was healing. Told me great job and keep doing exactly what I am doing. Good Luck!!!! It may be worth it to make an appt. with Dr. Carmen at Medical City or another pedi.plastic surgeon just for a advice or a consultation. If you would like lt me know and I will find Dr. Carmens number for you. Best wishes R..

I myself was attacked by a dog in the face. I had over 400 stiches. There is a new product out there now. It is a silicone sheeting. Contact any local plastic surgeon and they can order it for you. It sticks on like a bandaid. It is a little thicker. There is no pain when removed. It can be used repeatedly until it looses it "stickyness". Kinda pricey but worth every penney!!!!
Michelle

Hi A.,
I'm so sorry to hear about your son's incident.
Mederma is wonderful! It's a little pricier than I expected but you only need a little bit each time. I had a small cyst removed on my inner thigh with about 8 stitches and my dermatologist recommended it, I feel it has truly improved the look of my scar. Also make sure you keep those stitches covered and moist with an antibiotic ointment because the drier they get the more they will scar.

My son sliced his eyebrow area open on a table this summer. We used MEderma religiously and also did a scar massage perpendicular to scar with deep pressure, that really helps. I am a physical therapist and do scar massage alot on orthopedic patients and it really works well. I hope this helps.

Well dont let him pick the scab off!ha-ha...like thats easy or something ..esp w/ boys! Keep it well moisturized and protected w/ Neosporin and once the sacb is gone put Merderma (can get it at Walgreens/Walmart) It really helped some scaring I have had. Good luck and Im so sorry for your son but glad hes ok.

mederma is fantastic after the scab falls off. sunscreen is VIP too. best wishes!!

Hi A.,
Arbonne has a couple of products that help prevent scarring. the Skin Conditioning Oil and the Rejuvenating cream. I used both for my C section scar and it is now only about 3 inches long and hardly visible...
you can check the products out at http://www.arbonne.com
if you'd like to try them you can contact me! they are all guaranteed for 45 days so no risk.
J.

Hi A.,

I can't imagine how scared you were! My 12 month old daughter recently rec'd a cut below her brow while playing in the bath tub. At first she seemed fine but when I turned to reach for her towel, I noticed a stream of blood running down her cheek.
I am an Arbonne Consultant so I immediately reaced for the skin conditioning oil. We went to a birthday party last night and no one knew she had fallen!

If you have any questions or would like to try the skin conditioning oil, feel free to email me directly at ____@____.com. There is a 45 day money back guarantee on all of our products so you really don't have anything to lose.

I hope to hear from you soon...I know this stuff work!
S.

My son was also bitten in the face by a dog. He was only about 13 months old when it happened.it started at his lips and went up towrd his left ear. He got 3 stitches in his left cheak, dead center. Now he is almost 3 and you can barely see the scars on his face. The only one that is really noticable is on his lip. Our Dr. Also told us about mederma for kids (which we use) and she also told us to keep sunscreen on the scars. Our accident wasn't as bad as yours sounds but still a bit to the face is a bit to the face! The scars will gradually fade. But the sun won't help! Hope it turns out the way you would like it too!

Sorry to hear about the dog bite, but try using Olive oil once it scabs over that way it will not scar as bad,or either the vitamin E, just bust the capsule and rub the liquid on there and it should not leave the scar as bad. Also using neosporin helps alot too.

Hi,

I'm sorry you had to deal with something like this. I was bitten in the face by a dog with I was seven. My scars are okay, but I'm writing to encourage you to get a second opinion about your son's scars. ER doctors are great, but I would recommend 1 trip to a doctor that specializes in skin and scarring just to see if there is anything else that could be done.

My recommendation is due to family experience. My nephew had "birthmarks" he was born with that the doctor said would go away on its own. They never did. They got worse; they got bigger. He had 2 huge ones on his back, but the one on his forehead was the real pain. Not only are they prominent in all his baby pictures, but he could hardly play when he went to church or playdates because all the kids wanted to come up and "play" or press his mark. When my brother took my nephew to a new doctor the new doctor asked why something wasn't done when my nephew was born! Finally at age 4, my nephew had surgery done to remove him. He has some scars now, but they are well hidden with hair on his forehead or with his shirt. Had something been done when he was born, he wouldn't even have scars.

Of course birthmarks are different from scars, but you would have more options and peace of mind by having gotten a second opinion.

Another reason for my advice: my daughter has a birthmark. I drove an hour to get a second opinion. The skin specialist (Dr. Gahli, pediatric dermatologist in Grapevine) said it was exactly what my regular pediatrician diagnosed! I didn't feel like my time was wasted. I was relieved and now have even more confidence in my pediatrician.

The good news is anything that happens to little ones usually heals really well, but science has really come a long way. You never know if there is some great new product or procedure that would help make the healing even better.

Best Wishes,
Holly M.

My friend was also told Maderma for Kids when her daughter had six stitches on her forehead. It improved the texture as well as helped it heal faster. She highly recommends it. I also used Maderma for adults after plastic surgery to remove a mole from my nose and a cyst from my thumb. My nose scarring is gone and my thumb is definitely better. God bless!

My 2 year old got a horrifying scar on his face right below his eye from a deep cut that required 11 stitches. I was so devastated, and dermalmd scar treatment serum really works. It's not nearly as noticeable. It's been about 10 months since his accident, and we have used about 3 bottles. Worth every penny.

mederma and vit e oil are both fabulous and the best option for scar healing. My daughter had a major facial scar after a car accident - we used both. good luck and god bless!

My daughter is almost two and has had four stitches in her eyebrow. Fortunately, children's skin is rather resilient and she healed really well with Neosporin and then we put Mederma on afterwards. The best thing is to not let them pick at it and to try and keep it moist while it is healing. I know it is hard, especially when it is on their face.

My daughter was also mauled by a dog when she was 8 months old. She had to have hundreds of stitches all over one side of her face and back of her skull. I asked her plastic surgeon on a follow up visit about medications to help prevent massive scarring and he said that even with the advances in science, time was the best healer. With the massive tramatization to her face at 8 months I was worried about future appearance (for any woman, we know it's a worry) and he said by 8 years the scars should barely be visable because of the way skin stretches and develops. She is now 4 years old and only a few people who know about the mauling can tell where her scars are. If you'd like to see proof positive that time heals even horrifying scars, I'd be willing to share pictures of her with her stitches, just after they'd been removed and what she looks like now.

Oh my gosh, how absolutely terrifying! My son just had stitches on his face about a month ago. The advice we got both from the Emergency Room doctor and our own pediatrician was to put Vitamin E, Neosporin, or whatever we thought was best on it until stitches are out (they both seemed to think it didn't matter what we used, just as long as we used someting), then once the scab falls off, to put sunscreen on it every single day. They both told me, completely separately, that the sun was the single worst culprit of keeping a scar colored. The ER doc told us we wouldn't know how bad it would be for about 9 months - that's when you'll know what you're left with. Sunscreen prevents the pigment discoloration so will minimize the scar significantly.

So that's what we're doing - can't tell you if it works yet or not, but as both these docs told us that without prompting, I'm pretty tempted to assume they're right.

Good luck -

S.