Scars. Natural but not inevitable

Scars are a natural part of the skin’s healing process, following a wound or injury. They’re formed when the dermis – the deep, thick layer of skin – is damaged. The worse the original damage, the worse the scar.

The body produces fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin. This tissue isn’t identical to the original skin and is less resistant to UV light. Scars don’t contain sweat glands or hair follicles either, so they’re not as good as normal skin at temperature control.

So although scars are natural, there are ways to prevent them forming during the healing process. You can even reduce or get rid of some old scars, so long as they're red, pink or raised. See Mepiform® dressings.

Two types of scar

When most wounds heal, they leave a flat, pale scar – but in some cases, the scar is raised, red and itchy. Some people, particularly those with dark skin, are more prone to scarring.

Scars are classed as hypertrophic or keloid. Keloid scars occur when the wound hasn’t healed in the normal way. Such scars appear raised, lumpy, hard, red, rope-like and itchy. They tend to be larger than the original area of injury.

Hypertrophic scars take the form of a red raised lump across the original area of the wound and may also be itchy. These types of scars may occur after surgery or a burn and are a result of the body producing too much collagen during the healing process.