Most Burn, Keloid and Hypertrophic Scar Treatment Products are Ineffective!

Most people feel silicone gel sheeting and pressure pads; healing oils and onion gels; peeling products and scar revision; dermabrasion and laser resurfacing; steroid injections or punch excisions, are risky -scars may re-occur or become worst- or are uncomfortable, difficult to use, or may be painful and have undesired side effects, or are inappropriate or plainly ineffective. Some doubt that companies selling them have any intention of fulfilling the deleterious promises they make, as those therapies and products don't yield even the slightest improvement. In one word they are VERY FRUSTRATED.

Many say they've been ripped off, and you may as well be the next if you don't read this page carefully!

Deciding whether to treat a scar or leave it alone depends on accurate diagnosis of scar type and scar site, symptoms, severity, and stigma.

People with abnormal skin scarring may face functional deformities, discomfort, poor aesthetics, adverse psychological stress, dissatisfaction and social consequences that may be associated with substantial emotional and financial costs.

We review here the spectrum of abnormal scar types, a range of problems associated with scarring, and provide advice on assessment, treatment, and new therapeutic developments.

Scarring occurs after trauma, disease (acne, chicken pox), injury or surgery to skin or to tissues or other organs in the body. Such scars are a consequence of a repair mechanism that replaces the missing normal tissue with an extracellular matrix consisting predominantly of fibronectin and collagen types I and III, as such scarring represents a failure of tissue regeneration.

Not surprisingly the skin represents the most frequently injured tissue, and dermal scarring after injury, trauma, surgery, etc. results in adverse medical consequences including loss of function, restriction of movement (particularly because of contractures over joints) and restriction of growth, (particularly in children, the most common group to sustain burn injuries).

Most everyone offering scar revision services, cosmetic plastic surgery or scar treatment products warn you "there is no immediate and fantastic solution to erase scars once and for all", you may only achieve "significant improvements".

And some can't refrain from their own evil giggling, so they might add: "you will be better off if you try our products or services to minimize keloid and/or hypertrophic scars, and to avoid being disturbed by the same that haunts other people's minds as abnormal scarring may start mild but can become horrid disfiguring scars."

How Can The Truth Be Discerned?

No doubt you have to do your own research before it is too late. The sad news is you will find out that there are too many promising products. With these finding you can only ponder if they have any truth behind them. Is there really a chance they will prevent excessive scars after surgery or that they can reduce those already existing? Is this the best product for me?

And goodness, you will find the
Dark, Daunting Truth

Silicone dressing and pressure garments. These have been the "gold standard" in medicine, thanks to the high marketing budgets of those selling them. But the fact is those products and most treatments efficacy with silicone and other products and techniques are questionable or offer a minimal likelihood of improvement.

Hydrocortisone Injections. Some scars may improve with local steroid injections. The dose depends on the size of the scar and can vary between 10mg and 120mg. The steroid acts by inhibiting fibroblast growth and promoting collagen degradation. Injections are given every four to six weeks. There is a risk of fat atrophy , dermal thinning and pigment changes, and the treatment itself is painful. A local anesthetic may be applied. There is no good evidence to support the use of topical steroids.

The evidence base for the use of many current treatments and products is poor, and some may have only a placebo benefit.

In response to the need for an alternative, a plethora of new topical scar therapies have entered the market. In fact, at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' (ASPS') annual meeting last fall in Chicago, there were no less than five booths dedicated to 'new and exciting' scar therapies.

Not to say that all marketing is misleading, or that companies simply watch the polls to see which way the wind blows, but when it comes to the new scar creams, lotions and potions, it is "let the buyer beware". If you just look at the list of ingredients in most topical scar products, with some sense of understanding, you see a connection that really does not add up. Most concoctions have no real value except in the minds of the creative advertisers.

So, bear with me -and hold this in the back of your mind- while we search together for truth in the claims made by the many different treatments being advertised.

First, we'll dismiss outright all those saying "this is a miracle in a bottle" and others alike. Our time and effort is better focused on the ones warning us, "not to get caught up in false promises, for scars can not be erased; only somewhat faded away or improved".

Interesting! Are they telling the truth?

To better discern we will review:

•  The two-fold problem of compliance and minimal efficacy of silicone products for scar treatment and the like.

•  Why do we scar?

•  What characterizes these abnormal scars: keloid and hypertrophic scarring?

•  The implications of the conclusions of new research on the differences in cellular and molecular responses to wounding in embryonic and adult wound healing models and on mediators of scarless healing.

•  Candidates for pharmaceutical scar prevention drugs for adult injuries at the stage of clinical trials, and that could be ready for marketing in 2009.

•  Scaffolds of engineered tissues for severe burns and injuries even of internal organs, not only of skin.

•  How the above sheds light on the processes of skin repair and their promising results; and how their findings and hypothesis may explain why our natural product can both prevent scars and reduce existing keloid and hypertrophic scars.

A natural cosmetic product, not a drug, pharmaceutical, or product aimed to cure a disease.