What is the best thing for me to put on my Tummy Tuck scar?

Thank you for your question!!  At our office in Foster City, CA we have two remedies that seems to work well.  Embrace is a newer product developed by a Stanford Plastic Surgeon.  It is an occlusive dressing that assists to relieve tension on the tummy tuck closer.  This is probably the best product on the market, yet pricey.  The other product we carry is BioCorneum which is a silicone liquid that you apply twice daily to your incisions.  This has a SPF in the product to assist with preventing increased protection from the sun, thus decreasing pigmentation.  Hope this helps!!

I have not been convinced that any of the scar creams or ointments really help improve the final result of scars. I have done some very small studies on my patients that have been willing to use scar creams on part of their scars and just paper tape on the other parts and I do not see much difference in the end result after about 8-10 months. So I just have my patients apply paper tape to the scars and change them once a week for about 6 weeks. It is the cheapest and seems to be an equally effective treatment as anything else.  

Following surgery, there are many companies that manufacture creams and ointments that promise to minimize or eliminate scars.  However, there are only a few that have any scientific or clinical evidence demonstrating improvement.  Don't pay attention to heavily advertised creams with impressive "before and after" pictures.  Clinicians realize that scars will most often improve with time even when no treatment is used.  In short, my treatment regimen includes maintaining steri strips over the wound for 3-5 weeks following abdominoplasty.  When steri strips are removed, we begin using silicone strips.  These are made by Scar Away, Curad, and a number of other manufacturers.  I recommend wearing them at night for 12 weeks.  Real clinical studies have actually demonstrated improvement in scars with this regimen.  And silicone strips have been used in hospitals for decades in the treatment of burn scars.  I hope this helps! 

Thank you for your post. In tummy tuck and other lift/tightening surgeries, tension is the enemy. The scar is healing gradually over 12 weeks or so, and until it is strong, it is the weakest link. As there is a great deal of tension in tummy tucks, body lifts, breast lifts, etc., the scar is at high risk of 'stretching' or widening. Silicone sheeting, although having the ability to make a scar flat, does nothing to prevent stretching of the scar. Creams or steroids or lasers also do not have the ability to prevent stretching of the scar. Those are used if scar is thick or dark, but not to reduce the wideness of the scar, which is the main problem. Massage also does not help keep the scar thin, and can actually worsen the scar in the first 12 weeks because you are actually adding tension to the scar. Massage is for softening a hard or thick scar, but if used early, will hasten the scar widening. Only tension reduction has the ability to keep the scar as thin as possible. You may notice in a lot of tummy tuck scars that the center portion of the scar is the widest with the sides toward the hips being the thinnest. This is because the maximum tension is at the center, and least amount on the sides. Embrace removes a lot of the tension by putting more tension on the skin on either side of the incision and drawing the incision together. It is expensive though at about $100 per week for 12 weeks. When patients do not want to spend the money for embrace, I tape the incision trying to remove as much tension as possible for 12 weeks and recommend no stretching back and to sit most of the time, keeping tension off the scar.Best wishes,Pablo Prichard, MD

I recommend using 2 times a day, rubbing over the scar until absorbed, Rosehip Oil, it contains plenty of vitamin E and is excellent support for the process of ciactrizaciòn.In spanish the name is "Aceite de Rosa Mosqueta.

As you can see answers to this questions vary quite a bit and none of them are wrong. I find that using Prineo which is a tape that is used with derma bond can help produce ideal scars. Typically I leave it on for 10-14 days after the procedure. After it is removed I like my patients to perform scar massage and use Biocorneum.

Follow your doctor's orders. Most plastic surgeons will provide a scar cream or ointment, or sometimes silicone sheeting. Treatment with the V-Beam laser can also help to accelerate the healing. The good news is once the scar is healed, it will likely look like a very fine and thin white line that can be hidden under a bikini. 

There are several preventable items that make scars worse - dryness, sun exposure. Most scar creams on the market include some form of silicone (e.g. gel or bandage) which treats the dryness. The second component is equally important - sun exposure. Some of the newer products contain sunscreen. Good over-the-counter products include Kelo-Cote, NewGel, ScarAway, ScarGuard. Another great product I recommend is bioCorneum - which is the 1st and only FDA-cleared topical silicone scar treatment with SPF*. This product is usually only available directly from a doctor's office.

We recommend vitamin E oil for the scar.  It is more important to rub the scar in the direction that it is going, than what you rub on it.