Plastic Surgery for Scars – The Process

Plastic Surgery for Scars – The Process

A scar can be caused by an accident, injury, or acne. Some facial scars can affect the movement of the eyes, mouth, or nose. Thankfully, you can always look at getting plastic surgery to reduce the appearance of scars. It can be distressing for a person to have a prominent scar, which is why many opt for plastic surgery to make the scar less noticeable. Here are the steps followed for plastic surgery for scars.

The plastic surgeon can evaluate the scar and discuss the best course of action before getting into treatment. The plastic surgeon would follow the below steps in a scar revision procedure.

1. Anesthesia
The first step in plastic surgery for scars is to administer the patient with anesthesia. The plastic surgeon would recommend the best anesthesia. The most common types of anesthesia are intravenous anesthesia, local anesthesia, and general anesthesia.

2. The treatment
The treatment that the plastic surgeon suggests depends on the severity, location, and type of scar. The degree of improvement also depends on the above factors. A single technique in some cases may be enough, but in some cases, the plastic surgeon can recommend multiple scar revision techniques to achieve the best results. There are three kinds of treatments that can be used to make a scar less noticeable, topical treatments, injectable treatments, and surface treatments.

3. Incisions
In some cases, the plastic surgeon can recommend an incision to surgically remove the old scar. This course of treatment is ideally recommended in the case of deeper scars.

4. Incision closing
There are a few scars that require layered closure. This process is often used when the excision is done in areas where there is a lot of movement involved or when the excision extends to the tissues below the skin surface. There are also a few advanced techniques such as W-plasty or Z-plasty techniques that are used in this process of scar revision.

5. Recovery
The process of healing is important to post a plastic surgery for scars. The initial phase may take 1-2 weeks and involve localized swelling or discomfort. The healing process continues for weeks in some cases as it takes time for the new scar to refine slowly.

The results post the plastic surgery for scars will be long-lasting, and it may take many months or, in some cases, years for the result to become apparent and the spot to fully heal and fade. Plastic surgery doesn’t give you a guaranteed result, though. And in some cases, you might also need another surgery to provide you with optimal results.