Scars No Longer Need to Be Forever: We Have Solutions

Scars are a result of the body’s healing process. When you have a cut or wound in your skin, your body sends healing factors to the site to repair the tissue and close the gap. If there’s a buildup of tissue, though, the result is a scar that marks the injury’s site. While some people wear their scars as signs of “battles won,” you may wish they’d just disappear. We can do that for you.

At Oral & Facial Surgery of Mississippi in Flowood, oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Michael Nichols and our staff offer scar revision treatment for our patients who want to eliminate — or at least minimize — their scars. Here’s what we want you to know about scar formation and how to get rid of those unsightly marks.

Types of scars

Scars can vary in size, shape, and color. Types of scars include:

Contracture

Contracture scars most often form after a burn, causing the skin to tighten (contract). The tightness may make it difficult to move, especially when the scarring also affects the muscles and nerves or occurs over a joint.

Depressed (atrophic)

These sunken scars, which appear like rounded pits or small indentations, are often caused by chickenpox or acne blemishes. They’re also referred to as ice pick scars, and they develop most frequently on the face. Acne scars may become more pronounced as you get older because the skin loses its strong collagen foundation and its elasticity over time.

Flat

While this type of scar may start out as slightly raised, it flattens out as it heals. Flat scars are often pink or red to start, but they can become slightly lighter or darker than the surrounding skin as you age.

Keloids

These scars rise above the skin’s surface and spread beyond the wounded area as they heal. If the overgrown scar tissue becomes large, it can affect movement.

Raised (hypertrophic)

You can feel these raised scars when you run your finger over them. They may get smaller over time, but they never totally flatten. And unlike keloids, they don’t grow beyond the wounded area.

Stretch marks

When skin tissue either expands or shrinks quickly, the connective tissues underneath become damaged. Stretch marks are commonplace during pregnancy, puberty, or after gaining or losing a great deal of weight, all periods of rapid change. They may start off as pink or red and fade to a silvery white over time.

Scars are not forever: We have solutions

At Oral & Facial Surgery of Mississippi, we offer a number of solutions to address all types of scar tissue.

Steroid injections into raised scar tissue can flatten and minimize their appearance.

Collagen fillers may be used to fill depressed scars. Depending on the type of injectable used and the nature of your particular scar, results can last from six months to several years, but you’ll need to repeat the therapy to maintain results.

If you’re looking for cosmetic improvement of your scars, surface treatments can soften irregularities and reduce uneven pigmentation. These treatments either mechanically remove the top layers of skin or change the nature of the tissue. These treatment options include:

Dermabrasion: mechanical polishing of the skin
Chemical peels: remove the skin’s surface to soften texture and color irregularities
Laser resurfacing: uses focused light energy to create controlled injury on the skin’s surface, promoting the body’s natural healing processes
Excisions: used for deeper scars to surgically remove tissue
Scar revision surgery: minimizes the scar so it’s more consistent with your surrounding skin tone and texture

All treatments provide a more pleasing cosmetic result or improve a scar that’s healed poorly, but no scar can be completely erased. The degree of improvement you see depends on the severity of your scar, and its type, size, and location. In some cases, you may require just a single technique to see significant improvement. However, most commonly we use a combination of scar revision techniques to achieve the best results.

Do you have a scar that stands out like a sore thumb? You don’t need to live with it. Oral & Facial Surgery of Mississippi has solutions to help. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Nichols, give our office a call at 601-282-9290.