Scar tissue from belly button piercing, is surgery my only option to treat this? (photo)

Plastic surgery scars require attention after surgery so that they remain cosmetically-appealing and barely noticeable. In our office, we use a protocol for scars that minimizes their activity in the 6-8 weeks after surgery. If you have late plastic surgery scars, you may also require laser and RF therapy to help reduce the longterm effects of the scarring. Keloids, hypertrophic scars, widened scars, red scars, and hyperpigmented scars all require scar modulation with topical creams followed by lasers and RF therapy. Topical skincare should be directed to a specific need, whether for pigmentation or hypertrophy and our office can guide you through the process to obtain the correct Plato’s Scar cream or Melarase cream for hypertrophy and discoloration. In terms of lasers, we would employ the vbeam laser for redness, Venus Viva RF, PRP microneedling, chemical peels, and Morpheus 8, fractional erbium, or fractional co2. All of these have their individual benefits. Most of all, we recommend you visit a solid plastic surgeon who understands surgical scar revision, laser therapy, and RF therapy for scars.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Thank you for your question. Firstly, no matter what you do, you will always have a scar there. The key is to reduce the appearance of it. You describe it as being itchy and painful currently. It has developed into a hypertrophic scar. It could be bordering on keloid. What I would suggest in the first instance is steroid injections (kenalog 40 mg/ ml) YOu would need a 1 mL injection. This would be potentially repeated at 8-12 week intervals. If it is responsive then you would expect to see the scar flatten. The redness would remain until the scar totally matures and then will become less red and start to become pale. It would be useful to place a silicone strip on the area. This needs to be on for 23/24 hours of the day. This will also help to reduce the raised appearance. Massaging the scar will help to break down the scar tissue underneath to soften it. If this does not work, then there is a newer cryo treatment available for keloid and hypertrophic scars that is showing promise with its results. This is intralesional cryo injections. Surgery is carriedout also but this can sometimes make the area worse. The whole scar would be removed and resutured to former a thinner scar. If you are prone to wider scars, this can recur. Occasionally, the excision is carried out with an intralesional steroid injection to help reduce the scarring formation after the surgery.If none of these work, then for very large keloid scars, radiotherapy is considered. But first port of call would be to see a plastic surgeon who can assess the scar and advise the best treatment for it. There are several things to try first before surgery.I hope this is helpful for youBW