Scars have cosmetic, psychological, and physical implications for patients after surgeries. These are common complications of the wound healing process. Despite an atraumatic and careful technique, surgical procedures can result in scarring.
Research shows that over 100 million adults in the U.S report scarring caused by surgical interventions. Numerous research studies have described the abnormal cascade of events that lead to scarring.
The wound healing stages usually include inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. If you want to speed up the wound healing process and get rid of scars on your body due to surgical interventions, we recommend considering laser therapy.
Laser Therapy for Postoperative Scars
Laser therapy is one of the best treatment options for reducing the appearance of scars post-surgery. It uses focused light beams to remove the skin’s outer layer and stimulate the new skin cells to cover damaged layers.
Laser therapy can also reduce the appearance of age spots, skin wrinkles, warts, and keloids. During the procedure, the health professional will give you a topical anesthetic to numb your skin. Sometimes, the patient needs sedation to ensure the professional perform the procedure adequately.
Although laser therapy is an outpatient procedure, you must find or choose a board-certified dermatologist to perform the procedure. The side effects of laser therapy include swelling, inflammation, redness, pain, and temporary oozing. The good news is that these side effects will disappear within a few days.
How Does Laser Therapy Work for Scar Removal?
Laser therapy is a non-invasive treatment that requires a qualified dermatologist to use an FDA-approved fractional laser for scar treatment. It is an ideal treatment option for people seeking to reduce the appearance of surgical scars on the body. Laser therapy is a simple, reliable, effective, and fast procedure than other scar removal methods because it uses low-light beams.
Laser light penetrates your skin’s outer layers to stimulate new and healthy skin cells development and growth. The laser removes damaged or old skin layers, allowing your cellular mechanisms to grow new and healthy skin layers or tissues. Bear in mind that scar formation is a natural process that your body carries out due to a wound or injury after the surgical procedure.
Scars do not harm your body and skin, and you must not remove them for medical reasons. However, if scars on your body affect you psychologically and decrease your self-esteem, you can undergo laser therapy to disappear surgical scarring from your body effectively. Laser therapy reduces or removes scarring by:
- Removing old and damaged skin cells
- Supplying more nutrient-rich blood to the affected area
- Creating a numbing effect to reduce pain, itchiness, and redness
- Improving your skin’s range of motion around the scar
Health professionals, including dermatologists, choose from a wide range of lasers with different wavelength capacities. The purpose is to ensure the wavelength of light aligns with the condition of your scars and treat them effectively.
Some lasers are ablative, meaning they will remove your skin’s top layer, while others are non-ablative that treat the layers underneath your skin without affecting the outer surface. Anyway, the choice of ablative or non-ablative lasers depends on your skin condition.