Incision Care

I’m five weeks post op from a clipping and have a scar from ear to ear. Any suggestions on how to get it to heal quickly? It is dry and gets flaky (ewww) and I’m wondering if there is anything I can put on it to make it less dry. I tried vitamin E oil, but it is thick and sticky. Doctor has no recommendations. Any suggestions?

I also had the ear to ear incision, but I was told until my 3 month check up that I could put nothing on it. They even told me I couldn’t use conditioner and no shampoo with strong fragrances. I did struggle with it being dry and flaky until I could put stuff on it, but it healed really well with doing nothing and the hair is actually growing back in places on my incision. I did wear hats quite a bit once it wasn’t so sensitive to touch, and that covered it up a bit. Good luck in your recovery, time flies by so fast and it will be healed before you know it!

Taking vitamin E and magnesium supplements will help with healing. As for the scar itself, any non-fragance lotion or a lotion with a very mild scent should be okay.

I, personally, like the cucumber melon body cream from Bath and Body Works – very low colorant added, very light scent, it worked really well both on the scar from my shoulder reconstruction and on my quarter sleeve tattoo! You can also get baby oil that has been formulated into a cream in the baby section of your local drug store. That has worked really well also.

As for scar care in general, you’re going to want to do some scar physical therapy once all the sitches/staples are removed. Take two finger tips and place them on the scar, move them in a circular motion 10-20 times, slide your fingers forward slightly and repeat for the length of the scar. Then, go back the other way doing the circular motion in the other direction (clockwise vs. counter-clockwise). You don’t have to apply any pressure, really, just enough to move the skin and the scar tissue. Do this 3-4 times a day, more if you want. What it’s doing is breaking up the scar tissue before it really forms and it’s encouraging blood flow to the area which promotes healing. If you encounter lumps or bumps you can increase pressure slightly in an effort to break up the scar that’s forming. I did this with my shoulder surgery and now have a perfectly flat, thin white line instead of a “scar.”

azurelle

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If you have those Vitamin E capsules, hold it in your hand for a bit to warm it up, pop a needle in an end to apply to the scar. Or even put it in a glass of warm water, it’s not quite as thick when warm. Heat breaks oils down so I wouldn’t put a bottle of Vitamin E in a warm water bath to heat up the little you need. But this might be a better option for you. https://blogs.webmd.com/healthy-skin/20181129/what-can-coconut-oil-do-for-your-skin

I only had a ‘mid head to left ear’ incision. (1/2 length of yours, :frowning: ) My case is a little odd. For months I felt strange along my incision line. One day, I accidentally ‘hit/bumped’ it with my dog’s leash end. For some reason, that registered a strange ‘sharper’ pain. I asked my son to look at it the 2nd day. He said, ‘Mom, there is a staple in the line.’ I freaked out… out and out. That was about 3 months after the surgery. No wonder I felt strange… no matter what I did, the ‘scabs’ never went away. Two specific parts - and one of them had this staple, the other just didn’t fall off until many more months later.

If your incision looks ‘clear’ — not covered by any little tiny scab, then you are fine to follow other members’ great suggestions.

My doc has told me that as long as it’s not oozing or wet (like fluid or blood stains), then it’s ‘normal’. That means, they don’t care about anything unless your incision is open. No wonder they have no recommendations because what bothers us is not ‘important’ to them. :frowning: :frowning:

How to heal your incision quickly? I don’t know if worrying less would help. A nurse once told me that since my head just got a huge trauma, under length medicine treatments, or even some radiation (?) that it would realize that there is something wrong with me. It has to protect me by giving me warnings - itchy nerves reconnected/regrowth, stresses - flaky, hypo or hyper circulations… So, maybe we just take it a day a time?

Wish you the best luck recovering from the thick/flaky thing.