How can I make my scars heal faster? This question bothers many, and more especially if the marks are on the face or legs.
Every scar has a story behind it. While some individuals wear scars as a mark of joy, several people would give anything to make them disappear. It’s hard to blame them because these marks can adversely affect how you look and make you uncomfortable, depending on their location.
The dermis part of the skin forms a protein called collagen to help repair wounds every time the skin gets injured. The healing process happens if the skin is burned, cut, or has suffered from a condition or a disease, such as chickenpox or acne.
The skin does a great job of closing and healing the injuries. But, a scar is left behind.
Though scars are permanent and very difficult to treat cosmetically, it’s not all doom and gloom. It’s possible to shrink some new marks. However, old scars are harder to remove.
Types of Scars
There are several types of scar, and if you need to get rid of a mark, you must understand what type of scar it is. They include:
1. Atrophic Scars
They form as a result of the loss of tissue. The scars are serrated, depressed, and can be flat on the surface of the skin. Atrophic scars are darker than your skin. Typical examples are chickenpox and acne scars.
2. Contracture Scars
Contracture scars occur when a significant area of skin is damaged or lost. Burn scars belong to this category. The affected skin becomes shiny and tight, and can they can inhibit movement depending on the location.
3.Keloid Scar
They form when collagen is produced in high numbers following a surgery or body piercing, and they can continue growing even after the wound gets healed. The scar is usually enlarged, thick, and is raised.
4. Hypertrophic Scars
These scars happen when the skin produces an excess amount of collagen to repair the wound. They may be raised just as keloids but don’t grow beyond the injured place.
They form in places where there were pimples, cuts, burns, or body piercing. Hypertrophic scars have blood vessels and nerves.
What Determines the Type of Scar that a Person Gets?
People get different scars according to the following factors:
- The type of injury that happened to the skin, such as burn, acne, or surgery
- An individual’s skin type. Some scars may run in the family, and the color, texture, or thickness of a person’s skin affects how they get the scar.
- The injury’s location. The skin is tougher or thicker on some parts of the body, influencing the scar’s appearance.
Now that you know what determines the kind of scars that people get, and the several types of scars we have, it’s time for learning how to make a scar heal faster.
What Helps a Scar Heal Faster
Whether its an acne scab or surgical scar, you can’t choose the type of scar you want in many cases or its location on your body. But, you can decide how to manage it, and make it fade away.
No matter the seriousness of the scar you could be battling, you can make it less noticeable by eating a healthy diet. A healthy diet boosts your immune system, by providing the body with essential nutrients. It contains micronutrients, macronutrients, and fluids.
A healthy diet should contain vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. It may have no or little processed foods and any sweetened beverages.
You don’t have to spend a fortune on procedures and medication to remove a scar. It’s possible to fade away scars faster by eating a diet that’s both available and affordable.
The most appropriate way to take care of a scar is to manage a wound from its onset. If you consume a proper diet, the injured area will heal fast, and you won’t have to worry about ugly scars.
As you already know by now, the faster the wound heals, the lesser the chances of having to deal with significant scars.
That said, here are the foods that accelerate the healing of acne and other types of scars.
What you ingest plays a significant role in the healing of an injury. Our bodies require many vitamins, proteins, calories, and zinc to prevent infection and promote healing.
You can boost your health by taking foodstuffs with large amounts of nutrients needed to promote the healing process.
Go for a wound-healing diet to hasten the healing of all scars by following the nutritional tip below.
Eat Healthy Foods
The main aim of going for a wound-healing meal is to consume various foodstuffs that will offer you the proteins, calories, minerals, and vitamins that your body requires in sizeable amounts. Focus mostly on vegetables and fruits, meat, and milk.
Here are the minimum amounts of foodstuffs you should take to maintain that healthy variety every day.
- Two servings of vegetables and fruits
- Five servings of grains
- Three servings of milk
- Five servings of beans and meat
- Limited servings of sugars, fats, and oils
If you have diabetes, it’s critical to maintain these varieties of foods to ensure that your sugar levels stay at healthy levels.
Feel free to consult a dietician or your doctor to get an individualized diet plan to hasten the wound’s healing journey.
The proteins essential for healing scars are beans, eggs, meat (fish or poultry) tofu, cheese, whole milk, soy nuts, Greek yogurt, or soy protein products.
Foods rich in vitamin C also help to heal both acne and other types of scars.
Examples of such foods are peppers, cantaloupe, strawberries, carrots, all citrus fruits, fresh juices, liver, dark leafy vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach.
Ensure you mix the following dark leafy greens in small amounts on your plate to get excellent results.
- Alfafa
- Kelp
- Bok choy,
- Parsley,
- Green beans,
- Spinach.
A diet rich in zinc and significantly promotes fast healing are:
- Seafood
- Eggs
- Meat
- Seeds and nuts
- Fortified cereals.
During recovery, do your best to stay away from highly processed, sugary products, refined grains, alcohol, and soda.
Let your focus be on healthy drinks such as;
- Fresh juice,
- Unsweetened milk
- Coffee
- Tea
- Soups
- Plenty of water.
Healthy fluids hydrate the skin and prevent the wound from drying up, and also accelerate the healing.
Massage the Scar
Massage helps with scar management. In post-surgical scars, massage can influence the extent and the size of scarring, though there’s no enough evidence supporting this theory when writing this article.
Nevertheless, massage has other benefits that can’t be swept under the carpet. Massage reduces the patient’s itching and pain and makes them feel okay about the recovery journey and the scars.
Generally, massage is suitable for all types of skin. It makes the skin more flexible and helps in the growth of collagen.
If you’re going to use massage to manage the scars, it’s crucial to make sure you are doing it correctly.
In the early healing stages, be easy on the wound and apply light pressure. Continue building up the pressure as the days go by because the injury will be familiar with the used pressure. You can try both circular and vertical massage techniques and exercise patience because it’ll take time before you start getting the expected results.
You can have everything right in your quest to have the scar heal faster, but one wrong move can make the injury worse.
Scar Prevention Tips to Minimize scarring
All scars form as a natural process of healing a wound. Nevertheless, you can control the scar formation by taking care of the injury as it heals right from the start. After all, prevention is better than cure. Here are some crucial prevention tips:
1.Always Carry a First Aid Kit When Working Outdoors
When you’re working outdoors, ensure you have a first aid kit. If you get injured, first treat the injury to avoid infection, resulting in severe consequences such as amputation or a disability. Then, consult a doctor to determine if the injury will need to be stitched.
2.Hygienically Clean the Wound
Always clean the injured area properly before applying any dressing. Rinse it thoroughly with running water and remove foreign materials with tweezers.
Doctors highly recommend regular washing and dressing changes, having enough rest, and visiting the hospital if you notice anything out of the ordinary with your scar.
3.Cover the Wound
Never leave the wound uncovered for long because the longer you leave it exposed, the higher the chances of having a wound infection.
Leaving the wound open exposes it to bacteria and other unwanted particles, which should never come anywhere near an injury to lower infection chances.
4.Don’t expose the Wound to the Sun
Always use sunscreen to keep off the harmful effects of UV rays from the sun. Exposing the wound darkens the wound making the scar more noticeable. Keeping off sunlight accelerates healing and will help avoid discoloration.
Heal Scars Faster Naturally or Medically
Some natural products such as raw honey, lemon juice, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, and more can naturally heal scars. Massage these natural products on the affected area, let it rest for a while, and rinse it off.
Also, getting other treatment methods such as surgery, micro-needling, silicone products, dermabrasion, or laser treatment can help fasten the process. Consult your doctor or dermatologist for further advice.
With these options combined with a massage, healthy eating at the recommended amount, and properly cleaning and dressing the wound, you’ll be on your way to the quick healing of scars.
Conclusion on How to Heal Scars Faster
Though we want to heal scars faster, it’s vital to be patient with your body. Some may take time to heal, and some will even stay with you as long as you live, no matter how much you wish them away. Always remember, scars can’t define you. Don’t let spots put you down. You are beautiful, just as you are.
