What is the best way to care for scars after a breast lift and augmentation in African American patients?

Hello, thank you for your question. Skin in African americans may be more prone to keloids. When it comes to regular healing process without keloids, than the treatment for scars is similar. We advise first no smoking this can affect the blood supply to the skin and the survival of the skin. Silicone sheets have been proven effective and would speak to your plastic surgeon about when you can start that after your surgery. I also advise limiting activity that can potentially stretch out or put tension on your wounds for the first 6 weeks. After this process of scar maturing for one year. There maybe a pigmentation discoloration typically more visible in African americans, and for that we typically recommend micro pigmentation scar camouflage to help with that. Long term want to wear spf under bathing suits on the the scar. some women have considered microneedling to help with the appearance of scars.

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

Once the tapes or stitches are removed, there are many scar products that are good. You can use the silicone tapes, or products like Mederma or Scar Guard. Your surgeon can advise you to which ones. Use these products for 6 months.