Unfortunately, sometimes the body's healing results in scars which are unsightly or cause unwanted symptoms such as tightness or pain. The process of scar revision involves the removal of the offending scar and its replacement with an improved surrounding skin or soft tissue. This may allow the scar to be minimized and camouflaged in a much functional and aesthetic way.
Scars are one of the few things whose appearance tends to improve with age. What are often thickened, unsightly scars at first can become thinner and almost unnoticeable with time. Scars commonly undergo several stages of healing. A carefully closed incision or wound will typically have a small amount of swelling and bruising over the first several days after the injury or procedure. Sutures are then removed, if necessary, and wound healing and scar production begins. The body brings in natural building blocks such as collagen to the area of the wound to allow the area of scar to be bridged and sealed.
The scar will appear to become more lumpy and redder at first. This process will take between two and six weeks. Between approximately four and eight weeks the scar will look much wider and redder than it did initially. This is usually the worst the scar will look, and this is a natural part of the healing process. The scar will tend to remain red for 1-6 months afterwards. After that as the collagen, fibers and scar organizes and matures, the scar tends to contract down and flatten out. The color becomes less red and begins to take on the color and appearance of the surrounding tissue. It will then gently fade with time.
Hypertrophic scars are used to describe thick and widened scars which can and do occur in some people during the normal healing process. They are often confused with keloids but are differentiated by the fact that the actual scar or healing material usually does not extend past the borders of the scar itself. Hypertrophic scars may be wide, painful and very unsightly. However, they are often amenable to excision and treatment and are usually more easily treated then keloids.
All scars heal and contract with time. This is the body's natural method of pulling together a wide wound into as small and compact an area as possible. However, sometimes the body's natural contraction of the scar edges result in an over-contraction or tightness in that area. This is called a contracture. Such contractures can be painful and unsightly. Fortunately, such contractures are often amenable to scar revision with specialized flaps or scar revision techniques.
Z-plasty describes the specialized surgical procedure used to relieve tightened scars or contractures. Small incisions are made along the length of the scar in a pattern similar to the capital letter Z, hence the name. These small incisions then allow the skin next to the scar to be rearranged to relax the tension and provide greater length and movement to the area. The straight-line shape of a scar may also be made more irregular. This irregularity will help hide the appearance of the scar and make it less noticeable. In the hands of an experienced surgeon, a Z-plasty can be performed safely and effectively as an outpatient procedure under local anesthesia.
Dave Stringham, the President of LookingYourBest.com writes about plastic surgery in Los Angeles, California and plastic surgery procedures such as los angeles scar revision, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, liposuction, rhytidectomy, and brachioplasty.
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