Dealing with a Cancer Diagnosis

6 Important Things To Do To Minimize Scarring

by For Content

One of the most important parts of the body to avoid scars is on the face. The skin of the face is constantly visible, and its condition has a huge impact on our self-esteem and appearances. 

If you have a surgical procedure performed on the skin of your face, you need to do what you can to minimize scarring in order to optimize your appearance after recovery. The following are six important things you should do to minimize scarring after a surgical procedure on the face.

1. Keep the surgery site clean to avoid infection

One of the biggest reasons why scarring develops and becomes severe is because infection takes root in the surgical wounds. For this reason, cleaning the surgery site and applying an antibiotic ointment is important to healing. 

It's a good idea to ask your surgeon about what else you can do to disinfect the surgery site to promote quick healing. 

2. Educate yourself regarding the necessary recovery time

When you have a good idea of how quickly you should heal, you know when there are issues that are slowing down your healing.

Make sure you discuss the healing process with your doctor or surgeon. Inspect the surgery site regularly so that you know if your recovery is not progressing as quickly as it should. 

3. Moisturize the surgery site to promote healing

Adequate moisture in the skin at the surgery site is important. Moisture in the skin promotes circulation and will reduce the appearance and severity of scabbing.

Discuss the possible benefit of regularly applying moisturizer to the surgery site with your surgeon or doctor to determine whether this is a good idea for you. 

4. Don't pick at, scrub, or otherwise irritate the wound site

Perhaps the most important thing you need to do to minimize scarring is to simply avoid touching or picking at the surgery site. While keeping the surgery site clean and moist is important, it's also important to leave the site alone so that skin can heal properly without being disturbed. 

5. Stay out of the sun

The skin of your face is poorly protected from sunlight when it is recovering from surgical incisions. This means that it's important to protect your skin from sunlight while you're recovering. 

Sun exposure could cause any unprotected skin to tan or burn, and the resulting change in shade of the healing skin could possibly become permanent. 

6. Discuss scar prevention with your surgeon and/or doctor

Your surgeon or doctor may be able to provide you with more pointers on how you can minimize scarring. Your doctor may recommend applying a supplement such as vitamin E or zinc to the skin to speed up healing and minimize scarring. 

Check out a website like http://refinedmd.com for more information and assistance. 

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