Can a Scar from Heart Surgery Be Made Smaller?

Heart surgery scars can be improved with IIT, laser, and pressure treatment.  Rarely do I surgically excise these scars from the midline chest. Check out our before and after photos on our website.

Yes, scars from open heart surgery can be improved but it will
be important for you to be assessed by a board-certified dermatologist or
plastic surgeon.  They will examine your
body to see how you generally heal and decide the best plan for your specific
scars.  There are many options available,
including steroid injections, lasers, dermabrasion and/or scar revision.  The most important thing will be to follow up
with the doctor you choose, since most scars require multiple treatments.  By returning to the same doctor for these
visits, you will have your treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.

Heart surgery scars can be improved with any of these methods - intralesional steroid injections, intralesional bleomycin/ 5FU for thicker, more persistent areas, intralesional Botox, and fractional lasers. Good luck! 

 The scars after heart surgery can become red, hard , elevated & wide. The earlier the treatment, the better off the results. A combination of intra-lesional corticosteroid injection & freezing with liquid nitrogen [cryo therapy], give very good results with barely-noticeable scars.

Scars from heart surgery can certainly widen. This is a fairly common thing. Sometimes a scar revision can be performed with or without steroid injections to improve the quality of the scar.

There are various treatment options for a chest scar that you describe, and most commonly intralesional cortisone is employed. Occasionally surgical scar revision is used, or dermabrasion, or even fractional laser. Silicone gel sheeting can provide some modest improvement as well. The scar should be assessed by your local friendly dermatologist or plastic surgeon and then the best treatment option can be determined.

After a bypass procedure it is not unusual to have a very noticeable scar on the chest since this area routinely scars poorly. It is also difficult to improve. After your heart surgeon says you may be treated to improve this scar then you may want to go to a Plastic Surgeon to see if it can be improved. There are some options such as steroid injections(kenaloge) and topical items such as silicone and surgical excision. The scar may be a keloid which is a more difficult problem but it is probable hypertrophic and will improve for at least the first year on its own.

Since the same surgeon closed both the top as well as the bottom of your chest scar, it may be safe to assume that something took place which allowed or led to the scar widening. Usually, this area of the body is always tugged on since every arm movement results in pulling across the chest.
If your Heart surgeon approves, I would see one of the many gifted colleagues we have in Atlanta and have him / her revise the scar. Providing you are not taking immunosupressing medications, you should have a much better result.
Dr. P. Aldea

There are many fine plastic surgeons in Atlanta who can evaluate your incision and can determine if there are any ways to make it thinner and less noticeable.  If your heart is fine now, it is reasonable to visit them and ask.