Valuable Getting Rid of Scars Advice

This is a great piece of getting rid of scars advice I found last night.
In this article on dermatology website Skinandaging.com Dr. Sarah L. Taylor, a dermatology clinical research fellow at Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston-Salem, N.C., gives an overview of which scar removal treatment products are recommended by dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons and other medical personnel. The article is about the effectiveness of popular over-the-counter scar treatment products and the evidence behind these products.

What works?
All the most common over the counter scar removal products are mentioned; topical vitamin E, onion extract based scar creams like Mederma, silicone sheeting, honey as a topical scar removal product, lime juice, cucumber juice, cocoa butter, and aloe vera.

Summary of the article:
"To summarize, silicone gel has the most data behind it as an efficacious topical, over-the-counter treatment option for scars, and is an option for patients who want something they can buy themselves. Also, there is probably not any harm, and possibly some benefit, to rubbing honey onto healing wounds and scars. Further quality studies involving human subjects are needed for topical, natural preparations for scars, so in the meantime, encourage your patients to not waste their time or money on other natural products out there that claim to improve the look of their scars."

Read the full article here

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Getting rid of scars with scar removal creams

Mederma for scars, effective or not?

I have tried a lot so called scar removal creams and they did not work at all. Mederma is such a scar cream. It is an onion based topical gel which is not effective. If you read scar reviews on Mederma you might think otherwise but I'll explain more about this in my next post. Check this post for more info about Mederma.

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The truth about Bio Oil | Does it improve scars?

It depends. For hypertrophic and keloid scars this product probably doesn't work. There are almost no creams that actually improve these types of problematic scars. So when talking about this part of the scars family it probably is another scar product that does not work.

At first I thought it might be an exception to many other scar creams and products but no. (Funny how you keep wanting to believe a product does work although common sense says otherwise, but that's how the human mind works I guess) After doing a little research we can put this product on the list with non effective scar products. Check out this forum for some user experiences on Bio Oil.

But how about fine lines, wrinkles and other skin imperfections? Bio Oil is a relative new skin care product. It's one of Oprah Winfrey's favorite products. At this moment there aren't any clinical trials proving its efficacy. But there are lots of reviews. We all know online reviews must be taken with a grain of salt. But in this case, Oprah Winfrey's beloved Bio Oil does get a hell of a lot of positive reviews. In fact they are more than positive. Also my sister, mother in law and girl friend use Bio Oil. They say it makes their skin soft and supple and feeling really great. Apart from this my sister says that fine lines and even a minor scar of her faded to a considerable extent. So maybe there is something to this product.

When searching further on Bio Oil I found out that Bio Oil can cause skin irritation and other health risks because of the basic ingredients. Bio Oil consists partly of mineral oil. This is a petro-chemical derivative which is said to be harmful to the skin. Some research I did ( I can't find the source right now) shows there is absolutely no proof for these statements.

Until scientific studies have been conducted we can only go by our own experiences. The truth about Bio Oil is that is is greatly appreciated by many. We might all know someone who uses it and who is very pleased with it. So my conclusion is that it really could work for small scar and fine lines, wrinkles and imperfections. For bigger scars, such as surgical scars it might be a good massage oil.

Read more about whether it works for stretch marks here.

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Onion Extract Scar Creams like Mederma, do they work?

So called benefits of onion extract based scar creams are the anti-inflammatory characteristics and the fact that it should reduce the production of collagen in a scar. (Collagen are protein fibers of which a scar is made of.) Mederma is such a onion based topical gel. The company claims to make scars smoother, less noticable and softer. However studies conducted have shown that onion extract or allium cepa did not benefit the appearance of scars. Other studies also determined that in some cases onion extract had a detrimental effect on scars.

Another study showed that Mederma benefited the collagen structure in scars with injured rabbits. This products scar healing benefits are not that convincing. So would not recommend Mederma. Have to admit I haven't used it myself but I have used other creams and most them didn't do much for me.

There are many comments and reviews in which people state they use a product like Mederma and it does work. Of course that is possible but I think it is because of the moisturizing characteristics of the product and because of the fact that manipulating the tissue (massage) the blood flow will increase.

Something about effective ways of fading scars on Squidoo. And some more info here.

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Does topical use of Vitamin E improve scars?

No there are no benefits to using vitamin E to improve scars. According to a study conducted by the University of Miami Department of Dermatology vitamin E has no positive effect on scars. It may even worsen the scar appearance in more than 90% of the cases! One third of the patients in the study developed an allergic reaction and had to stop the use of vitamin E.

The outcome of the study: "The Effects of Topical Vitamin E on the Cosmetic Appearance of Scars" conducted by Leslie M. Baumann MD and James Spencer MD, MS is that the use of vitamin E for treating the cosmetical appearance of scars should be discouraged. Read more about this study here. Visit this page for effective scar improving methods.

But consuming vitamin E might be beneficial to scar healing. A vitamin E rich diet may consist of wheat germ, muesli, avocados, tomatoes, nuts, vegetable oils, seeds and dark green leafy vegetables like spinach.

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Scar reviews | How to look critically and be cautious with conclusions

If you take a look at scar reviews on for example epinions you will see roughly 2 out of 3 reviews are positive. I really think, not only with scar product reviews but with all that you must weigh the negative comments heavier.

First of all there is the common argument that the manufacturer of a product puts positive reviews there. Well this argument is not valid because the competitor can also place negative reviews.

Reasons why to weigh negative comments heavier are:

Many times scars improve. The product is not always necessarily the cause of this improvement. As I always advice: use a moisturizing cream to massage the scar. Any cream will do as long as it hydrates. Because a moist environment is beneficial to scar reduction. There is clinical evidence for this. But apart from that no scar cream is proven effective on scars.

So a percentage of the positive reviews should not be taken into account because I strongly believe the scar would have improved with any hydrating cream.

Cognitive dissonance is another reason. When you have bought an expensive scar cream you'll want it to work even more. The believe in the product increases. The knowledge of the product being not effective will be compensated with an unrealistic view.

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