Appearance of scars

[FindYourFire 41]

So, I'm 5 months out and my scars are still very pink. When did the visibility of your scars improve? Mine are SO obvious still against my pale skin... I feel like the color will never change.

[AZhiker 2,251]

They do fade to a white color over time. I can't even find mine now. Give it time.

[GradyCat 3,692]

It was less than a year for me. I'm two years post-op and you wouldn't even know they're there. They faded and look like freckles now.

[NovaLuna 709]

3 hours ago, AZhiker said:

They do fade to a white color over time. I can't even find mine now. Give it time.

Same. I'm almost 11 months post op and when I saw this post I checked and could only find one and have no idea where the other four are because I can't see them. And I'm paler than pale (when I used foundation I use the lightest foundation there is and it's slightly too dark for my face and I have to blend the heck out of it, that's how pale skinned I am. My family teases that I'm like snow white. I don't even know how it happened either since everyone else in my family has like tanned skin and wears beige foundation -_-" I blame the red hair)

[ChubRub 1,696]

My scars blend right in with my stretch marks! LOL!!!

[ms.sss 14,634]

Scar healing/fading will vary from person to person.

You could probably predict where you will fall on the scale by how YOU healed historically.

I am on the far end of the scale of slow/bad healing/fading. I am 2+ years out from surgery and my scars are still pretty dark. They have faded somewhat from the early months (and at least now they are flat!) but they are still very noticeable (see pic below...the scars pointed at by red arrows are my WLS incision scars which are 2 years, 2 months old. My belly button is also healing from scarring from plastics 1 year ago.)

Generally though, for ALL scar care, it is often recommended to keep them clean and dry while healing, and then moisturize often when they close. Also, it's recommended to reduce alcohol during healing (as it may act as a blood thinner and prevent clots), and refrain from smoking (as it may affect healing as well: stress on heart, de-oxygenates blood, etc, etc...). Further, there has been some evidence of Retinol and Vitamin E topical applications to help by stimulating collagen growth which reduces the appearance of skin imperfections....

Edited to add: Just remembered! For really bad scars, I can vouch for steroid shots. I had some applied to the arm lift scars on my arm a few weeks ago and they have visibly improved. Still not to the level of near-invisibility like i've seen on others (i'm looking at you @sillykitty), but def much better than before.

Edited December 16, 2020 by ms.sss

[Guest]

Several years ago, a plastic surgeon recommended that I apply Vitamin E oil (or the oil from a capsule) to help soften and fade scarring.

[Sassafras1 63]

8 hours ago, FindYourFire said:

So, I'm 5 months out and my scars are still very pink. When did the visibility of your scars improve? Mine are SO obvious still against my pale skin... I feel like the color will never change. 

I'm the same as you, very pale. My scars are still very pink too. I'm nearly 7 months out. They look better than a couple of months ago but I don't think they'll be invisible for several more months to a year... and by then i'll have much bigger plastics scars to worry myself about

[catwoman7 10,845]

I can't see mine at all anymore.

[Arabesque 6,443]

I tend to scar badly & I’m very fair too. I used bio oil on my scars & honestly I have to really look to find them. They are just tiny faint lines now. I couldn’t tell you when they faded to this point but I remember having trouble finding them to show a friend about to have surgery about 7 months ago.

But remember we all heal & scar differently. So you may have a different experience.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Arabesque

[Numbheart 108]

just give it time, maybe you can put some ointment for scars

[Surgerynx 7]

Is there some kind of ointment that you can use?