Mederma for Scars

[Mimi Q]

Does it work?

 

[DisneyDotty]

Had a big scar on my upper arm after a malignant mole was removed (call it my shark bite.) Anyway, my plastic surgeon recommended Mederma, but my dermatologist said it didn't really work. I tried it for about 4 months--no noticeable change. Best advice--keep the scar out of the sun.

 

[Aneille]

I was just wondering about scars today as well and what can be done to help heal them.

My 2 year old about 7 months ago walked into a Dell cardbox that was on the floor. She hit the flap right on her cheek bone. Tiny cut, not a big deal, although it looked yucky for a few days. We let it heal up and now in the right light you can see where there is a small piece of skin missing or a scar.

Drives me nuts. I want to fix it for her even though you can't even see it in photo's.

I don't mean to hijack, just curious to the answers myself.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

DH used mederma on a small scar and though it has taken using it for the last 3 months-it worked on his scar and is significantly lighter.
Another suggestion is vitamin e.

 

[Danvers]

Not really!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

it was kind of expensive and didn't work too well. That was just our experience. I'm sure it works for some people.

 

[Mimi Q]

I bought some at Wal-Mart. It was almost $14 for the tube. I hope it works. I just had 13 stitches removed from a surgical incision last week, so I thought I'd try it.

 

[barkley]

dd had surgery in may that left a scar on upper arm. i asked the orthopedic surgeon. he said it's useless. dd wanted to try it but i have seen no improvement. we will wait until she is older to see what it looks like (with kids it can change so much-had a friend who had open heart surgery at age 7, by the time she turned 18 what had been a scar from collar bone to navel was only about 2 inches long). just make sure to apply sunscreen to the area.

 

[disney4us2002]

dd had surgery in may that left a scar on upper arm. i asked the orthopedic surgeon. he said it's useless. dd wanted to try it but i have seen no improvement. we will wait until she is older to see what it looks like (with kids it can change so much-had a friend who had open heart surgery at age 7, by the time she turned 18 what had been a scar from collar bone to navel was only about 2 inches long). just make sure to apply sunscreen to the area.

Cannot emphasize the sunscreen usage enough. Noone mentioned that to us 5 yrs ago when ds had 8 stitches right across his forehead but last year when he got stitches again in nearly the same place the ER doctor said to keep it out of sunlight and always use sunscreen. Part of it is very noticeable because of the first scarring and lack of sunscreen.

 

[Mimi Q]

I don't think sunscreen will be an issue. No one is seeing this scar except me and DH.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[mamajoan]

We used Mederma for my son as soon as the skin was ready after a third and second degree burn to his hand and wrist. My son is bi-racial, Black/White, and prone to keloids. Religious use of the product along with scar massage helped to decrease the scarring. That being said, if a doc ok's scar massage for the area ... it can be very, very beneficial. It is easy to do.

I am not sure why Mederma is so darn expensive. The big ingredient is an onion extract......

 

[asta]

The most important thing with treating a scar is massage when the wound has healed enough. My daughter injured her forhead in a fall and both her pediatrician and a plastic surgeon stressed the importance of firmly massaging the scar. (She rubs it with a lot of pressure against the bone in her forhead.) I asked the plastic surgeon about Maderma and Vitamen E. He said there is nothing wrong with using these products but their value comes with the rubbing action used in applying them to the scar. Basically, anything that will help you to massage the scar more often is a good product.

We are one year away from her injury and while she will need plastic surgery to repair part of the scar where she lost the underlying tissue, the rest of the scar improved greatly over the last year. Massage keeps the area soft and looking like the surrounding tissue.