I am only a few weeks out from my takedown surgery but I am already worried about the scar. I know I cant do anything until its completely healed but I hate the feeling of how my stomach looks. Does anyone have any advice on how to reduce the appearance of the scar or make it look better?
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Apply vitamin E oil to it regularly- this will soften the scar. As far as the redness: mine took several years to fade. Being male and having some hair is somewhat helpful in keeping the scar obscured. It will take a long while to look better. 1-2 years.
Tango,
First off, are you talking about the mainline scar or the old stoma scar? and have they let it close on its own or have they sutured it?
It is way too soon to know how your scar is going to look. The whole region is swollen and will be for up to 12 months. It will not lighten up and look completely normal til then. (or at least for me).
If you don't like it after 12 months you can talk with a plastic surgeon who can reduce your scar and make it look less nasty. If you end up with an uneven abdomen (lumpy, looks like a baby butt, fat pack on one side...) then the doctor can lipo it first before reducing the scar.
Mine looked like a deep fault line. Ragged, jagged and deep. They reduced it and surprisingly enough it looks like a skinny white line now. Never, ever looked better.
They did a one sided lipo and removed a kilo of fat so the uneveness is almost gone.
I am not 21 and not skinny but I think that my belly looks ok for the number of surgeries I've had. No complaints.
Don't sweat it...just heal for now.
Sharon
Originally Posted by Jeffsmom:
Having had open heart surgery 6 years ago and being a beach girl, my surgeon told me not to get sun on the scar for a year. I kept my chest covered, and didn't let it tan. I realize this is a much thinner scar than a belly scar, but it is hardly noticeable. However I look at all my scars as battle scars. They are part of who I am, my history. I have a lot of scars on my torso, go to the beach all summer long and in the sun whenever it's warm enough. They do get better over time and just don't let the sun get to them for a year. It will be ok.
Yes mean the stoma site.
Thanks for all of the advice so far.
My surgery was in 1991, so I have the nearly 14 inch midline scar and a stoma scar. They fade over time, truly. I don't even care about them anymore. That which doesn't kill me... Right?
Originally Posted by tango9:
I am only a few weeks out from my takedown surgery but I am already worried about the scar. I know I cant do anything until its completely healed but I hate the feeling of how my stomach looks. Does anyone have any advice on how to reduce the appearance of the scar or make it look better?
My skin started to fail due to Predisone use prior to my surgery so when they tried to operate Laproscopically they had to switch and do an open-surgery on me. I have a few big scars from the surgeries, because of this my insurance company will pay for some plastic surgery for the "scar revisions" but I'm just not ready for another surgery just yet.
For me, and because I was so sick, all I really cared about was getting well and feeling better, I didn't focus on the scars. Now that I am better I will get them taken care of.
I guess you could ask your surgeon to close the stoma site and not leave it open to heal. My surgeon had a preference to leave it open to heal so I have a larger scar at the stoma site.
My surgeon also had a preference in that regard, and the reason for doing it this way is it lessens the chance of an infection if the wound is allowed to heal by granulation. My scar at the stoma site is a concave shaped oval and it looked hideous early on after surgery, but it got better with time and I no longer have any desire to do anything with it. I am going to die with these scars as they look right now.
CT,
Wait until you hit Andropause...they will take on a whole new shape!
Oval becomes droopy/loopy!
Just starting to see what the future holds for mine and it is not pretty...
Sharon
I had open surgery. Laproscopy was not an option as my surgery was an emergency. As a result, I now have a very long (about 10 inches) vertical scar down the midline from about 2 inches above my belly button right down to the pubic bone, and an smaller oval shaped scar where I had the stoma. I also have two smaller indentations - which I call bullet holes -- where I had JP drains. The lower part of the vertical scar is keloid and is pinker than the top part, but overall the scar has really faded in colour. The section above my belly button has actually lightened so much that on a glance you may not even notice it.
In the early days, I used Bio Oil and Palmers Cocoa Butter Lotion in attempt to fade the scars. I'm not really sure how much it helped. I'm fair skinned and tend to scar easily regardless. I still rub Palmers into the scar daily, but that's more to soften the area and to keep my skin moisturized than to try to fade the scars at this point. I'm now over 7 years from my last surgery and I doubt very much that the scars will change drastically at this stage, except for maybe getting a tiny bit lighter. Honestly though, my scars don't bother me all that much (I have worn a bikini to the beach).
If your scar is really bothersome to you, you could ask for a referral to a plastic surgeon to discuss revision surgery. Keep in mind that this in all likelihood will not entirely eliminate the scar, but it may reduce the appearance or at least make it smaller and more even from a cosmetic perspective.
The plastic surgeon said that he could do a tummy tuck on me and that would fix most of my scar issues. Obviously my insurance company won't cover that ($8,000 surgeon fee) plus other costs; the insurance company will only cover the scar revisions.