How Does a Scar Heal?

Featuring Dr. Jugpal Arneja, MD, MBA, FAAP, FACS, FRCS
,How Does a Scar Heal?

Duration: 1 minute, 22 seconds

After the initial injury to the skin, whether it be from surgery or from trauma has healed, after a couple of weeks’ time the scar will actually continue to get red for up to about three months’ time.

At that point, the scar will settle down over the course of the next 9 to 12 months and the redness should fade away and you should end up with a nice white line. Initially, your scar might feel quite tight as the wound maturation process is happening, and if there is some injury to the cutaneous nerves it might be quite hypersensitive or even painful at times.

This should settle over the course of 9 to 12 months. After about 12 to 18 months after the scar matures appropriately, the patient shouldn’t have very many symptoms associated with their scar.

And it takes a while for the nerve endings and the sweat glands to grow back into the skin, but essentially the scar should behave like the remainder of the surrounding skin after that scar maturation interval.

If patients have any questions about the scar maturation process, it’s important to seek medical attention from either their primary care physician or general practitioner and they can counsel you better about the scar lifecycle and problems that you might expect.

The ultimate healing of every scar is unpredictable and so it’s very important to seek medical attention so your physician might be able to assess your scar better and counsel you regarding your outcome.

Presenter: Dr. Jugpal Arneja, Plastic Surgeon, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Plastic Surgeon