A hypertrophic scar stays within the bounds of the original wound and can fade over time without treatment.
As scar tissue begins to form, it may appear red, raised, and hard, but over time it fades, flattens, and softens.
Most scars are flat. However, sometimes your body makes extra collagen that results in a raised scar. This type of raised scar can be either a hypertrophic scar or a keloid.
In many cases, the redness will fade with time and the scar tissue will flatten on its own, but this is not always the case. Using silicone sheets while the skin is healing from an injury can minimize the chance of a hypertrophic scar forming.
Hypertrophic scars are benign and not harmful to a person's general health. They do not develop into skin cancer. A hypertrophic scar will often regress completely between 6 months and 3 years after it first appears.
For best results, you should perform scar massage for at least 10 minutes, twice a day, for six months. You should only stop sooner than that if the scar starts showing signs of infection or you experience intolerable discomfort.
Treatments can reduce a scar's size or appearance, but the scar will never completely go away. Some treatments prevent a scar from forming as a wound heals. Scar treatments include: Dermabrasion: A common acne scar treatment, dermabrasion removes the top layer of skin by gently “sanding” the skin.
Raised, Hypertrophic Scars
Playing with concealer colors is just as beneficial in obscuring the look of scars that sit above the skin's surface—just in an opposite order. “Apply the skin tone shade along the edges and then the darker shade on the raised area,” Quynh says.
Scar Process
It will take six to 18 months for the scar to have its final appearance. Your scar should gradually soften and fade over these six to 18 months, but will look pink initially (photo B). Some scars never fade. If your scar stays pink after 12 to 18 months please call to discuss options.
A keloid scar is a thick raised scar. It can occur wherever you have a skin injury but usually forms on earlobes, shoulders, cheeks or the chest. If you're prone to developing keloids, you might get them in more than one place.
A thin, smooth crust forms over the damaged layer of skin before falling off to reveal a pink-ish layer, which is the scar. But sometimes, for reasons that are still not completely known, your skin can overreact to the damage with an overgrowth of scar tissue that rarely goes away on its own.
Laser surgery.
Scars may be treated with a variety of different lasers, depending on the underlying cause of the scar. Lasers may be used to smooth a scar, remove the abnormal color of a scar, or flatten a scar.
Scar tissue may become hard and raised. Massage is a way of softening and flattening scars and reducing the adhesions between the different layers of the tissue, making the scar tissue more flexible. It can also help alleviate any itching and over-sensitivity of the scar.
Pulsed Dye Laser Therapy
The energy from the laser causes the blood vessels in scar tissue to shrink and eventually dissolve. It also causes a scar to lighten because the blood vessels are what cause redness and discoloration in a scar.
You may feel bumps and lumps under the skin. This is normal and is due to the dissolvable sutures under the surface of the skin. These deep sutures take months to completely dissolve and the scar will not be smooth until this time.
How much a scar fades depends on its size, location and type. However, scars never fully disappear, because the jumbled tissue remains fundamentally different from the skin around it.
You should carry on massaging your scars for at least three to six months after your surgery or injury. What happens if I do not do anything? Your scar could become hard and inflexible or adhesions may form. Scars that cross a joint could stop you being able to bend or straighten the joint (a contracture).
Increased temperature is a common physiological effect that helps to break down scar tissue. Increased temperature involves both superficial and deep tissues increasing in temperature. Increasing temperature of tissues within the body helps to loosen scar tissue.
Scar Tissue Release Therapy is a gentle yet effective modality. In your session you may feel such sensations as a slight tugging or pressure as the scar tissue is released.
Hypertrophic scars typically flatten on their own within several months to a year. 3 However, depending on their location, they may cause discomfort and, thus, require treatment. Silicone sheets: You may be able to flatten hypertrophic scars at home by covering them with a silicone gel sheet.
Soft tissue fillers.
Injecting collagen, fat or other substances under the skin can plump the skin over indented scars. The goal is to make the scars less noticeable. Results are temporary, so repeat treatments are needed to retain the effect.
Hypertrophic scar treatment
Steroids may be given as an injection or by direct application. These scars may also be removed surgically. Often, steroid injections are used along with the surgery and may continue up to 2 years after the surgery to help maximize healing and decrease the chance of the scar returning.