A kindergarten playground is a wild place. As soon as you get outside, hundreds of kindergartners swarm towards you. As a result, your trip and injure your leg. The "ouchie" is quite big, and the nurse tells you it will take a while to heal. Time passes and your injury turns into a scar. But why? Why does this happen?
The How:
When the dermis, which is a thick layer of skin, is damaged, a scar is formed. Proteins called collagen fibers to attempt to heal the injury. They do heal it, but a scar is formed. Just like how our skin has skin tissues, our scars have scar tissues. These tissues don't look like the surrounding skin tissues, and they have a different texture from skin tissues.
Different Scars:
Most scars you see will be flat and pale. But, in some cases, your body produces too much collagen, and the scars are raised and higher. These types of scars are known as hypertrophic or keloid scars and are “common in young and dark-skinned people,” according to WebMD. Other scars are sunken. This is because structures supporting your skin (like fat muscles) are lost. Scars from surgery and acne have this sunken characteristic. Scars can also look like stretched skin. This is common during growth spurts or pregnancy. The scar can appear during the healing process when the skin is under tension.
Treating Scars:
*Scars can't go away completely, but their appearance can be altered.*
Surgery -> This will make the scar less noticeable, but it isn't recommended for treatment on normal scars. This method is more useful on hypertrophic scars or keloid scars.
Radiotherapy -> This method should only be used in extreme cases, in which the scar would cause long-term side effects. It prevents hypertrophic or keloid scars
Filler Injections -> This fills up sunken scars to the normal level of skin. This is a temporary solution and the injections may need to be repeated regularly.
Unless your scars are bothering you, you shouldn't try to alter them. I'm sure you'd look pretty or handsome either way! The reason why this message has been repeated over 100,000 times is that it's true! Remember, your scars show the battles you've faced.
Love,
A.C.
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