Natural Skin Care Products | Clinical Skincare

Scarring

A ‘scar’ is your skin’s way of repairing itself from any injury. It is usually a pale pink, brown or silvery patch of skin that occurs when the dermis is damaged. Depending on the depth, location and size of the wound, a scar can be flat and pale or pinkish and slightly raised. Sometimes, even your heredity disposition, sex and even your ethnicity affects how your skin scars. Age is an important factor in deciding how your skin will scar.
When the body is wounded, a set of complex biochemical events takes place to repair the damage. After about 2days after the wound has occurred, fibroblasts enter the wound site and begin secreting Collagen. Collagen deposition is important because it increases the strength of the wound. Before it is laid down, the only thing holding the wound closed is the fibrin-fibronectin clot, which does not provide much resistance to traumatic injury. Also, cells involved in inflammation, angiogenesis, and connective tissue construction attach to, grow and differentiate on the collagen matrix laid down by fibroblasts.
An injury does not become a scar until the wound has completely healed. Because the body cannot re-build the tissue exactly as it was, the new scar tissue will have a different texture and quality than the surrounding normal tissue, therefore ending in the formation of a ‘Fortuna Scar’. This scar will usually be devoid of hair follicles and sweat glands.

These are several different types of scars including:

Acne scars come in many types from deep pits to scars that are angular or wavelike in appearance.

Keloid scars are the result of an overly aggressive healing process. These scars extend beyond the original injury. Although anyone can form a keloid scar, some ethnic groups are at more risk of developing them. Keloid scars are irregularly shapes and rise up quite abruptly above the surface of the skin, seeming to enlarge progressively. Contrary to Hypertrophic scars, keloid scars don’t subside over time and can occur a significant time after the injury has occurred. The can also develop from body piercings.

Contracture scars usually occur if your skin has been burned. These scars cause tightening of skin and at their worst may impair ability to move or go deeper to affect muscles and nerves.

Hypertrophic scars take the form of a red raised lump on the skin, but do not grow beyond the boundaries of the original wound, and they often improve in appearance after a few years.

Alternately, a scar can take the form of a sunken recess in the skin, which has a pitted appearance. These are caused when underlying structures supporting the skin, such as fat or muscle, are lost. This type of scarring is commonly associated with acne, but can be caused by chickenpox, surgery or an accident.

Scars can also take the form of stretched skin. These are called striae and are caused when the skin is stretched rapidly (for instance during pregnancy, significant weight gain or adolescent growth spurts), or when skin is put under tension during the healing process, (usually near joints). This type of scar usually improves in appearance after a few years.