Scar Removal with Silicone Strips

A person's age, life style, race, genetics (being prone to scarring might run in the family), the location on the body and overall skin properties, the intensity of the injury, the quality of the wound healing process, possible infections all are factors affecting scar development. Some of them can be influenced and controlled.

A healthy life style will help. Eating a well balanced diet, drinking enough, avoiding excessive alcohol intake and last but not least not smoking because smoking really is detrimental to the skin and to scar development in particular.

The wound healing process can be controlled by efforts to avoid or treat infections. Medical honey wound gels and dressings show to be a very effective wound treatment and some special types of honey are even thought (by researchers) to minimize scarring.

How the most accepted, most scientifically proven scar improving product, silicone gel strips, exactly works remains unclear. There are several hypotheses.

Studies have shown that silicone gel strips do not change temperature, pressure, or oxygen tension of the scar tissue. The strips (dressings) have an evaporative water loss almost half that of skin and have been compared with the outermost layer of the epidermis (stratum corneum).

Many researchers believe that silicone acts by creating an occluded, hydrated environment that decreases the blood flow in the smallest blood vessels (capillary activity), thereby reducing the collagen deposition which leads to (hypertrophic) scar development.