Had surgery on my foot to remove a mole & went out into the sun without putting sunblock on and now I have sunburn on the scar?

Question

surgical scar and it wont go away or come off! in other words the surgical scar got sunburned and i dont know how the sunburn on the scar will go away? what kind of treatment will make the sunburn disappear? im really upset about this! if a surgical scar was exposed to the sun and sunblock wasnt used, what kinds of treatments will only remove the sunburn if it the kind of sunburn which isnt going away or disappearing? can any doctor please tell me what to do? thank you.

Andrei Gherghina, DO, MS · Answer

If the scar got sunburned it will likely peel and you will be left with an area of darkening, this is called post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Just be aware that scars continue to heal and change in a process called "remodeling" for at least a full year, and this hyperpigmentation will likely last throughout this time. So what you see now will likely change substantially depending on how old it is. The lower legs also heal very slowly in general, from the surgery and also from any other sun damage or trauma caused afterwards. At this point I would use sunblock diligently. The hyperpigmentation can always be treated at a later point with topical creams containing hydroquinone or with laser.

Had surgery on my foot to remove a mole & went out into the sun without putting sunblock on and now I have sunburn on the scar?

Answers (1)