Is It Common to Wait Until the Scar is a Few Months Old Before Using Ointment, Etc.?

Scars become visible or unsightly over months after the wound is healed rather than days or weeks. During this time they have not fully matured and are sensitive to motion, sun exposure etc. It is these motions etc. that create a bad visible scar. It is during this time that the scar is also most sensitive to measures designed to prevent a bad scar. If you wait months and then start to treat the bad scar that has already appeared it is much harder and may be impossible to achieve the... more

When to begin to apply topical scar treatments to an incision after surgery is a common patient question. In general, any type of topical or external scar therapy is going to exert its best effects early in the healing process. It is doing the early phase of scar healing that collagen modulation can best be done. But you don't want to apply any topical therapies until the incision is completely healed. This is usually 3 or 4 weeks after surgery. I recommend my patients to apply... more