Scarring
Following a broken wound or surgery, scars can be left, leaving a lot of people searching for a way to conceal or get rid of them all together.
What is a Scar & how do they form?
When the skin is wounded and there is a break in the body’s tissues, the body produces more of a protein called collagen, as part of the healing process. Collagen builds up where the tissue has been damaged, helping to heal and strengthen the wound.
For a period of about three months or longer, new collagen continues to form and blood supply increases, causing the scar to become raised, lumpy and red. Some collagen then breaks down at the site of the wound, the blood supply reduces and the scar gradually becomes smoother, softer and paler. Although scars are permanent, they can fade over a period of up to two years. It is unlikely they will fade any more after this time.
How severe or obvious a scar ends up looking can be determined by a number of factors.
Age – Older skin tends to contain less collagen and elasticity, making healing slower and scars more probable.
Skin Tone – Those with darker or fairer skin are more susceptible to noticeable scarring.
Location of Injury – If you get a cut on a place that takes longer to heal, say on a knee that bends a lot, or a foot that experiences constant friction from shoes, scarring may be more likely.
Hormones – Hormone levels can affect your body’s likelihood of incurring scars or hyperpigmentation.
Different Types of Scars and Their Causes
What causes a Scar?
Skin wounds can be caused by many things, including:
• Stretch marks
• Acne
• Intentional harm
• Burns and scalds
• Accidental injuries
• Plastic surgery
• General surgery
Keloid or Hypertrophic
Keloids are those raised scars that look like puffy, dense tissue and might also be pink or darker than the surrounding skin.
Hypertrophic scar may also be raised, but it doesn’t expand beyond the spot of the injury.
These types of scars occur when there’s an overproduction of tissue at the site of the wound and collagen collects and is overbuilt under the top layer of skin.
What Causes Keloid Scars
When the dermis layer of your skin kicks into aggressive healing mode, it sends in fibroblasts to start distributing collagen to rebuild tissue.
However, instead of having time to lay everything out in an orderly, basket-weave style – which is how the rest of your skin is composed – they start throwing down an overproduction of collagen sort of haphazardly to quickly get things closed up.
So, you end up with a bunch of unorganised, built-up collagen beneath the top layer of your skin which results in a raised scar.
Atrophic Scars
Atrophic Scars
Normally seen as the chickenpox scars which look like little pitted or divot scar. This is where they get their familiar name, “pockmarks.”
This is an atrophic scar, which is sunken in and results in a recessed mark on your skin. These scars are typical of both chickenpox and cystic acne.
What Causes Atrophic Scars
These sunken scars are caused when there’s damage to the skin’s underlying structure – fat or collagen cells – usually as a result of inflammation.
The outcome is that there’s not enough tissue to fill out the skin, so it causes a depression in the skin’s surface.
Acne Scars
Cystic acne causes painful bumps which are rooted deep in skin, and when pus and bacteria collect and sit below the skin’s surface, they can do damage to deep layers and result in scars which can take on a variety of forms.
Icepick Scars
These are those deep, indented scars that may resemble a large pore. They occur when inflammation causes collagen below skin’s surface to collapse, leaving a depression.
Boxcar Scars
These scars are broad depressions with more defined edges. Boxcar scars occur when a cyst destroys fat cells under the skin resulting in an indentation.
Rolling Scars
Rolling scars are depressions with rounded edges, and there are typically a few of them in one close area making them look like a continuous, undulating scar. These scars are caused when the subcutaneous tissue layer (the layer below the dermis) creates fibrous tissue that tugs the top layers down.
Hyperpigmentation
These scars cause a dark spot on the skin’s surface that may resemble a freckle. Hyperpigmentation happens when melanocytes (the cells that produce melanin, or pigment) go into overdrive in the production of melanin at the site of an injury or inflammation caused by acne.
Contracture Scars
These scars are the result of a large area of skin being lost (or the kind you’d get from a severe burn). The skin contracts as it heals and scars, forming tight, shiny skin that may inhibit movement in the area.
Stretch Marks
90% of pregnant women will experience these. Individuals that have experienced severe weight changes may also experience stretch marks as a result of the skin expanding.
