How to prevent scarring after surgery?

PREVENTING SCARRING AFTER SURGERY

By View Plastic Surgery

"Will the scar be visible after surgery?"🤔

This is the question that gets many patients, who undergo plastic surgery, worried. The scarring healing process usually depends on each person skin's regeneration ability and speed along with the treatments you take (like ointments, lasers and etc).

However, did you know that your daily life habits also affect the scarring?

View Plastic Surgery gives you 8 advices on DO’s & DONT's after surgery to minimize scarring as much as possible:

DO's:

1) Eat protein

Yes! The food you eat daily affects how fast your scar will heal. Choose more protein food as it helps your body to build blocks of healing skin. It is recommended to intake a lot of chicken/pork/fish&seafood/beef/dairy products. If you are not able to eat meat for some reason replace it with soy products to get enough amount of protein and minimize scarring.  

2) Drink a lot of water

Lack of water influences your overall health condition, including healing process. Be sure to drink 1.5-2 liters of water a day to keep your body hydrated.

3) Prevent infection

Keep the area of incision clean and avoid contacting the water during first 24 hours. Take good care of your incision as infection causes higher risk of scarring in the future.

4) Bandage care

Most wounds don't need one after a few days, but if you keep the area covered it may help to protect the cut from injury and it may heal faster. If you do keep bandage on, change it every day. Wash your hands well with soap and water before and after.

DON'Ts:

1) Don't smoke

It's not a surprise that smoking negatively affects your body. However smoking after surgery increases risk of scars and slows down your healing process in general. That's why it is mostly recommended to quit smoking 2 weeks prior to the surgery date.

2) Don't drink alcohol and caffeinated drinks

Another well-known bad habit - drinking alcohol - dehydrates both the body and skin, so it's better to avoid drinking alcohol and caffeinated drinks during your recovery period.

3) Don't over eat

Overweight leads to a bigger risk of scarring as the under skin fat doesn't let your incision to close ideally, so it's better to keep fit and avoid overeating. 

4) Don't do sports

Avoid gym and other physical activities during first weeks or during the recommended time by your doctor. Sport not only can traumatize your body while it's not fully recovered, but also will cause sweating that might cause an infection on the incision area. 

Don't forget to ask your surgeon for more detailed recommendations! 

We wish you a scar-free surgery💜

VIEW PLASTIC SURGERY