Wound and Scar Treatments
The most common reason for plastic surgery is the treatment of wounds and scars occurred due to pressure, burns or accidents.
Even if the initial treatment is performed in other medical centres, treatment of many non-healing wounds and the scars which cause sequel subsequently is performed by planning in accordance with the personal and holistic approach as in all medical procedures.
The wound site, the time of wound formation, the reasons for wound formation, the procedures performed until the patient applies to us, general health state of the patient, age and the medication/drugs used by the patient if any, are the first things to be considered when planning wound healing.
Surgery is the first choice among all methods of wound and scar treatment if necessary. The medical removal of dead, damaged, infected or necrotic tissues from a wound site is called debridement. It is not possible to heal, recover and close a wound without debridement. Especially in wound which have not healed for a long time, these dead tissues function as plugs and prevent wound closure.
Surgical removal of poor healed tissue is another preferred method for the treatment of scars caused by accidents, previous surgeries or incisions made to the arms or body for self-destruction.
Besides surgery, PRP procedures, micro fat grafts, neurotoxin, radiofrequency procedures, intense pulse light (IPL), fractional carbon dioxide lasers, chemical peeling procedures are also preferred methods in scars treatment.
The expectation from the treatment is not the disappearance of scars completely. It should be that the scars become an aesthetically acceptable form with the treatment. The scar treatment in especially near the bone structures and joints such as end of the shoulder, elbow, knee and wrist is difficult as they are on a mobile/dynamic and hard tissue.
It is possible to try to close some scars through tattoos or hair transplantation, especially in the face and arms of men.
The treatment of pressure sores caused by inactive bed-bound or wheelchair-dependence should be performed as soon as possible before the wound grows. As the wounds are accompanied by sense deficiency in these patients, the areas exposed to the pressure should be checked frequently and the wounds should be treated before they are opened, these patients should stop smoking, if they smoke, some common vitamin deficiencies (D, B-12, Iron, Zinc etc.) should be recovered.
The razor scars on the arms recover with apparent and significant scar as they are self-healing. In these cases, if the treatment is to be performed surgically, pilot surgical procedure should be performed to the most apparent scar and depending on the results of this procedures, the medical intervention to the other scars is appropriate and correct treatment approach. In the major surgeries, the splint should be used and the arm should be kept immobile for 3 weeks. These patients should wait for 12 months for the final result.
The 3 common characteristics of the scars should be photographed by scoring before the procedure in the categories of surface characteristics such as swelling or collapse, colour changes and hardness/rigidity, and the success of the treatment can be evaluated by comparing these parameters with the photographs taken at the end of the treatment. As some scars are observed with tissue deficiencies, filling procedures can be performed with wound treatment. The most preferred filling material for this is graft obtained from the person.
Basic rules about wound healing
1 – Wound healing varies from person to person, the shape and time of another person’s wound healing cannot be precedent for you
2- The most important factor affecting this time-consuming and difficult treatment is the attention, adaptation, habits and quality of wound healing as much as the preferred medical option
3 – There is no scar healing in the mother’s womb, except for some tissues
4 – An existing scar is not disappeared, lost, but can be “less obvious”
5 – The most ideal treatment of chronic pressure-related wounds before the wound has yet to grow
6- The “sunscreen” of scarring and wounds leads to accelerated healing, on the contrary it causes dark-coloured healing
7- Some of the injuries are healed by closed methods while some injuries remain open
8 – Laser procedures are not preferred in summer because they cause sensitivity to the sun on the skin.
9- Wound and Scar treatments are applied with patience, with planning that requires “holistic, personality-specific and combined” approaches.
10 – Although the time of the secondary treatment to a scar which the corrective initial treatment has been performed is not a requirement and standard but is considered to be 1 year at the earliest.
