Scar Remedies Questions

Updated: 01/27/2012

*Ted, an independent contributor, offers information and opinions on Earth Clinic, not as a substitute for professional medical prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your physician, pharmacist, or health care provider before taking any home remedies or supplements or following any treatment suggested by Ted or by anyone on this site. Only your health care provider, personal physician, or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for your unique needs or diagnose your particular medical history.

RETURN TO MAIN SECTION

WHAT TO DO FOR A HYPERTROPHIC SCAR FROM CHEMICAL PEEL?

NEED REMEDIES FOR OLD SCARS ON LEG

HOW CAN I PREVENT KELOIDS FROM FORMING?

SURGICAL SCARS

REMEDIES NEEDED FOR OLD SCARS ON LEGS

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL TREATMENT

REMEDY NEEDED FOR OLD BURN SCARS

TOXIC EPIDERMAL NECROLYSIS

WHAT TO BE DONE IF SCARS HAD DRIED OUT

WHAT TO DO FOR A HYPERTROPHIC SCAR FROM CHEMICAL PEEL?
01/27/2012: Rosie from Greer, S.c writes: "Hi, I am at the end of two weeks from doing a lactic acid peel and I can tell that I am going to have a hypertrophic scar. At this stage what can I do to break it down before it gets larger? I dont to irritate the skin but there must be another way to do this without causing further irritation. Do the natural treatments for keloids work for hypertrophic scars also?

Furthermore, I want to warn others that the these peels cannot be done every week as suggested by many on the internet. In fact, I waited four months before attempting my second peel. I used 40 percent lactic acid which is supposed to be a superficial type burn but I guess if you burn your skin often enough it would not longer be superficial. I am thinking diet at this point baking soda and water? Any ideas would be appreciated. How do you contact Ted from Thailand? Sincerely, Rosie"

Reply to this Thread

NEED REMEDIES FOR OLD SCARS ON LEG
08/21/2011: Chuvachuchay from Cebu, Philippines writes: "i know your advices/answers are very exact to the questions ask."

Reply to this Thread

HOW CAN I PREVENT KELOIDS FROM FORMING?
12/09/2010: Denise from Washington, Dc writes: "Ted-
My c-section scar has keloid and I'm having the scar surgically removed. What advice can you give me to follow in hopes of preventing the new wound from forming a keloid. Is there something I can use topically or is the best course of action to change my diet? I also would like your opinion on whether compression garments help prevent the skin from keloiding? Also, what is dmso? I haven't been able to find what that means. Thanks, Denise"

Reply to this Thread

SURGICAL SCARS
10/11/2008: Diana from Atlanta, Georgia writes: "I found this site looking for a remedy to heal a surgical scar. I have recently had Moss Micrograhpic surgery on my nose to remove basal cell cancer. I now basically have a new left nostril formed with skin from my cheek and cartalige from my ear. The skin on my nose is still bumpy and not matching the left nostril yet. I had the second and final surgery 3 weeks ago. I also have a 2 inch scar on my cheek from where they took skin to graft to my nose. I am wondering if any of the remedies from all the information on keloids would help with this kind of scaring. I would truly appreciate any information."

10/13/2008: Joyce from Joelton, Tn replies: "To Diana from Atlanta, Think Vitamin E for preventing scarring. It can be applied externally to area, as well as taking 400 IU's at least 2 times per day. Also think Vitamin C 1 gram mealtime & bedtime and Zinc 25 to 50 mgm. morning and night for rapid healing."

Reply to this Thread

REMEDIES NEEDED FOR OLD SCARS ON LEGS
08/07/2008: Charmaine from Irvington, United States of America writes: "Dear Ted,
I am 46 yrs old woman and have had this pressing problem almost all of my life. I grew up being a tomboy in Jamaica. Because of this, I sustained many small scars to my legs which have prevented me from going to the beach (I can't even swim and I practically grew up on the beach), wearing skirts or dresses (I was, at one point, forced to wear skirt to work for a while and on those days I put make up on my legs and wore two stockings), all the time feeling very uncomfortable. I cry all the time because of my predicament. Someone not in my situation would probably not understand just how devastated I am but it has even prevented me from living a full life. I am a reasonally attractive woman with a good heart but I am so embarressed about how my legs look that I don't even get involved with men for fear of the intimacy part of the relationship. Please help me, it's driving me crazy. I do not know where else to turn. I have tried so many things which obviously have not helped. HELP ME PLEASE, YOU ARE MY LAST RESORT!!!
Keep up the great work you are doing, I follow quite a few of your recommedations...thanks."

Reply to this Thread

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL TREATMENT
11/22/2007: L from New York, USA writes: "Hello Ted. I purchased potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and 3% hydrogen peroxide. Can you tell what are the measurements or amounts of each? EX: 2 tb of potassium bicarbonate with 1 tb of hydrogen peroxide. I tried applying this last night and did not have any success. I am hoping I didn't have the correct measurements. Also, how long should it be applied for?"

Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "
If there is a scar on the skin, the best remedy is a topical one, such as aloe vera and/or vaseline applied to the area, plus some natural vitamin E. Vitamin E reduces natural scarring while aloe vera gels and even aloe vera drinks contain allantoin to speed healing.

'

Internally, taking baking soda, and potassium bicarbonate reduces the scar by allowing the body to heal faster, but it won't directly reduce the scar if no topical application is used.

The remedy for baking soda is just 1/4 teaspoon and 1/4 teaspoon of potassium bicarbonate plus 3 drops of 3% H2O2 in 1 glass of water. This is taken twice a day. I had a friend whose her whole face was peeling and potentially causing real scars and it was magically relieved when I applied thinly aloe vera oil plus vitamin E and vitamin A. It should be noted that aloe vera oil works best if it is not applied everyday, but once every two or three days. However, most commercial aloe vera gel with added aloe vera oil can be applied almost everyday since the concentration in those product are below 0.5% and a vitamin E is added to prevent scarring.

If a sodium and potassium bicarbonate with peroxide is used, vitamin E should also be taken internally to reduce scarring. One interesting anti scarring remedy is to apply colorless iodine or perhaps just a simple iodine to area affected. Some doctors have noted some regeneration of skin from Iodine. Although I haven't experimented with this one yet."

Reply to this Thread

REMEDY NEEDED FOR OLD BURN SCARS
11/17/2007: Sandy from Bangalore, India writes: "Hi, I am 30 years old Indian female. I suffered an accident involving hot water when I was 2 years old and have burn marks from the same--a huge dark brown patch (not a keloid) on my lower leg. Of late, I have been trying to get rid of this scar. My routine: apply coconut oil in the mornings, again apply coconut oil in the evenings, wash at night and apply retinol (vitamin A precursor) and hydroquinone cream. After doing this for 3 months I can see a slight improvement. However, the scar is still there. Does anyone know BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE of any way I can get rid of this old scar within the next 3 months? I will prefer a natural remedy. Thanks"

Reply to this Thread

TOXIC EPIDERMAL NECROLYSIS
06/28/2007: JJ from The Phillipines writes: "Last year, I was diagnosed of toxic epidermal necrolysis but as of now, i'm on my recovering period about the scars on my skin. my parents can't afford bringing me to a dermatologist since they prefer a homeopathic treatment. I accidentally landed on this this very informative site, Earthclinic and was very grateful about it. I doing the oil pulling therapy to completely detox my body from toxins. Sometimes, i really felt like giving up since i wasn't going out of the house for almost a year because of my skin condition. it really lowered my self esteem. The scar's disappearance is very slowly in progress. Im not taking any drugs as of now..just doing the detox every day... i really wanted to be normal again, go to school, and do anything under the sun."

Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "Toxic epidermal necrolysis maybe of a staphylococcus' bacteria, since this is the only bacteria I know of that are flesh eating. Therefore the treatment is straightforward, magnesium citrate supplements 250 mg/day for days out of a week, baking soda 1/2 teaspoon in 1/2 glass of water taken twice a day, 50 mg of zinc gluconate taken once or twice a week. That's what I would do. A condition such as this is a magnesium deficiency, and the body is in a state of acidosis. Some remedy such as one whole lime freshly squeezed (about 8 teaspoon) plus 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda taken twice a day is one possible alternative besides the baking soda alone can also be of help. The conditions is life threatening, as bacteria may penetrate causing a gangrene skin condition. What I would do likely in this case is to apply very lightly the use of Milk of Magnesia (please read the ingredient and make sure they have no additive aluminum compounds, just water and magnesium hydroxide and sometimes peppermint oil) Aluminum is extremely toxic - so absolutely no aluminum! Then after the application, get a petroleum jelly plus a small amount of aloe vera oil(optional), then this is applied to the open fresh wound scars. Do not rinse the Milk of Magnesia (make sure you shake it well before using!), and apply lightly before applying the petroleum jelly. The wounds should dry up within the next days, as to the scars, perhaps colorless iodine or potassium iodide solution apply may help remove the scar. The remedy mentioned may be a bit too strong on baking soda, however, it is always best to start with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/2 glass of water two times a day (at least) and if no problem the dose can go to 1/2 teaspoon. This is necessary to discourage staph growth, which is the key bacteria I have seen to cause this kind of condition.
"

Reply to this Thread

WHAT TO BE DONE IF SCARS HAD DRIED OUT
JJ writes: "Greetings to you! Well sir, i'd really wanna thank you for such a response. i just wanna ask if what to be done if the scars had already dried out? You have mentioned the application of colorless iodine or potassium iodide solution may help remove scars. Can you give me the instructions on how to apply it? Im looking forward for another response. Thank you so much and more power!"

Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "There are a couple of ways to remove scars, one is by an iodine rubbing, the other is DMSO with water, and there are others, not mentioned here. I will only described what I did to remove some scars. I think in case the scars have dried out the DMSO will work better. Iodine solution somewhat takes longer.

I once had a huge black scars on the elbow, and what I did was made an 80% DMSO plus 20% water, or sometimes a pure DMSO solution (maybe irritating) and get a white towel and rubbed the area as often as possible, and it will slowly erase most of the scars over a month's period.

Although dermatologist used a lot stronger solution than I do, depending on the nature and depth of a scar with a strong salicylic acid solution, which can vary from 5% to 20% for example which somewhat exfoliating. I tend to be more deliberate and used the DMSO solution, but it is slow.

The iodine solution (mine is a colorless one with hydroiodic acid plus potassium iodide where the iodine concentration is about 5%), which I make myself and rubbed onto the area of scars.

However, I prefer to use this in removing some age spots, which seemed to worked better for iodine, whenever a white cotton towel is rubbed (like a sandpaper) over the area. Of course, people have to experiment with that and see how well it works.

Another possibility I think is to use petroleum jelly which I also do and is a mild form of scar remover by using also a white towel and rubbed it several time when a petroleum jelly is applied. I can tell if some scars are removed whenever the towel gets or acquired a dark color and the skin seems to lighten up. It will take awhile but I think most of the scars should reduced over a month's period when enough of it is applied frequent enough. Aloe vera helps healing but I think at this stage, it is too late for now, so I guess just removing the scars is more reasonable."

Reply to this Thread

Folk Remedies and Holistic Cures - EARTHCLINIC.COM

Scar Remedies Questions