Scar Revision Surgery
After having scar revision surgery (or after other types of cosmetic surgery), it is important to care for your stitches well--to prevent infection and to ensure that they heal well. Here are instructions commonly given by cosmetic surgeons:
Instructions
1. Be sure to ask your cosmetic surgeon for detailed instructions about scar revision aftercare. Although the tips below will assist you should you forget, this does not constitute medical advice.
2. Immediately after scar revision, your cosmetic surgeon will cover your stitches with steri-strips or other bandages. Remove them when your surgeon directs--usually no later than the day after surgery.
3. The evening of--or the day after--your scar revision surgery, remove the bandages so that your stitches are exposed. Clean the stitched area with cotton-tipped applicators dipped in hydrogen peroxide. Use a separate tip for each scar.
4. If the cosmetic surgeon instructs you to use a topical antibiotic, apply a minimal amount to each scar.
5. Approximately twelve hours later, clean the scars again with hydrogen peroxide (how often you clean the scars will be determined by your cosmetic surgeon). This time, be sure to remove any yellow crusting that has developed around the suture sites.
6. Reapply the antibiotic ointment.
7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6, as directed, until the follow-up appointment with your cosmetic surgeon--4 to 7 days after your surgery (depending on the location of the scar(s) and how well it is healing, it could be longer.)
8. Consider using silicone scar sheets once your stitches have been removed and your scar has healed. Silicone scar sheets have been shown to flatten a raised scar and to reduce the redness that sometimes persists in a healed scar.
Tags: cosmetic surgeon, your cosmetic, your stitches, your cosmetic surgeon, clean scars, each scar
