One of my friends had neck surgery a month or so back. (I offered to post her question for her--Thanks for the help!)
She has a 2-3 inch scar across her neck and is worried about how well the scar will heal. Her doctor has suggested using 'silicone patches': she would put the patch on the scar for 24 hours at a time, over a 3 month period. Apparently, a lot of plastic surgeons prescribe them to their patients to help heal scar tissue... Down side is that the patch treatment costs a few hundred dollars. Before she shells out the cash, she was wondering if anybody had used them before and how well they worked... Any feedback on them would be appreciated! Thanks!
Thank you all for your comments. I passed them on to my friend... who just started physical therapy and it is apparently leaving her in pain... So I don't gotten an update from her to share with you all, but do know she appreciates your feedback. Thanks again!
Karen,
I've never used the patches, but I used the cream Mederma on my scar when I had my thyroidectomy and my doctor recommended it for scars. I bought the product at Walmart. When people asked about my scar and I show it to them, they are amazed at what they see or should I say what they don't see.
Just an "FYI".
Be Blessed
E.
well we bought ours from the pharmacy, at nowhere near that cost, for my son who had surgery.
he wore them as you say all day for 3 months, you can hardly see his scar now, but he is very young and has great skin.
i think they do help, but they wont get rid of the scar completely
My derm. recommends Aquaphor (or Mederma), which I bought at Wal-Mart. I have red hair, therefore I am very fair skinned. It has helped tone down my scars from the removal of pre-cancerous and basal cells. I even put it on the area that was treated with meds like I was getting radiation treatments (the treatment was the med ointment one night, and aquaphor the next night, I also could put it on during the day if the area was itching). There is no scarring from when I looked like raw hamburger meat all across my forehead for 4+ months, just brand new healthy skin.
My husband had neck surgery several years ago. He put Vitamin E oil on it a couple times a day. His scar is in a natural crease on his neck but even if you look hard, you can hardly see it. Everyone just assumes his scar is behind his head since they don't see it.
My sister-in-law was in a serious car accident over 7 years ago and ended up with a vicious scar on her shoulder/chest area from the seat belt. She was recommended the silicone patches only because the scar remained raised and vivid and extremely sensitive and painful. She used the patches for several months which greatly reduced the pain and scarring. Now over 7 years later, it's a very faint scar that doesn't cause her any pain at all. Many here have recommended lotions and things to help, and I'd say try those first if the scar isn't sensitive and only use the patches as a last resort. She began the patch treatment months after her accident and it was still effective.
Hi Karen.. I had what sounds like the same surgery back in April of 2004... the ortho doc went in through the front of my neck and fused c5 thru c7 of my spine. The scar that I have is on the front of my neck and is about 6 inches long and really is not all that noticable now... I did not use any kind of silicone patches or anything for that matter... The one thing that I did was put a gauze bandage over it if I was going to be out in the sun for a long period of time this way the scar tissue would not darken up. I have olive colored skin and I tan really fast so any scars that I have that are exposed to the sun leave dark marks... I hope this helps... If you want to see picture of the scar I dont mind sending it... Have a blessed day and I hope your friend has a speedy recovery. C.
I used a silicone patch product recommended by my doctor called Scar Away it completely flattened and faded away my c-section scar and my mom's heart surgery scar...they are barely visible at all. Truly amazing. Before I started using scaraway my scar was thickened and raised up and red...really ugly looking. I am so thankful for this product. It also got rid of the intense itching of my scar and wearing pants was finally comfortable! Through doctors these are very expensive. These are the same ones used by plastic surgeons and are just becoming available over the counter. I tried others that did not work,Scar Away was the only one that worked for me. I found them at drugstore.com. 29.99 for a three month supply of 3" strips and 59.99 for a 3 month supply of 7" strips (the size I used for my c-section scar)so..don;t soend hundreds to get this professional treatment...they aare available at much better prices. :)
Hey there.. I had a procedure done earlier this year and my doctor recommended silicone patches.. they worked like a charm.. I bought them at CVS for about 20 bucks for a box of 24. the up side to these is that you can cut them to fit the scar instead of using one big patch.. and they are washable.(save the paper part). a little soap and water and stick it back together until it dries..my scars are flat and barely noticeable...
You could check out PUBMED (online) and see if there are studies on the effectiveness. Maybe you could speak to a pharmacist for recommendations, too. Best wishes!
I have never used the patches, but vitamin E oil works great on scars, stretch marks and burn marks. You can buy it in the bottle or the gel pill. I used a lotion with vitamin E oil in it when I was pregnant and never got a single stretch mark! Good luck
Vitamin E cream helps and friends of mine have simply put a pin prick in a Vita E capsule and squeezed the oil on the scar. That is a whole lot less expensive than hundreds of dollars. Also, I have some information on a new resveratrol product that is giving people amazing results. I can look it up and email or snail mail it to you.
I had a diskectomy and they went throught the front of my neck througha 2" incision that was made in the natural crease of my neck. It was a hard scar for about 6 months and then softened up and you can't even tell it is there unless you know it is now. If it is in the natural crease, I think it will eventually blend in. Use creams or lotions on it and massage it to keep the scar tissue down. I didn't really do anything special and you cant see it at all.
