Scar Question (possibly stupid)

[sparrow]

Hey All:

This summer my in-laws' dog bit my nephew on the lip. He took some stiches and has a scar. The scar is small and no longer red but is still pretty obvious, at least to me. I don't know that my sis will go with plastic surgery. My question is, will the scar stay the same size as he grows? (He's 8) Scars don't "stretch" and tear as they get bigger right? I'm worried that it might split his lip or something. Sorry, i have a feeling this is a dumb question but I'm concerned.

Sparrow

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow - what a ride!’ — Peter Sage

 

[maddie]

It shouldn't. Most scars get smaller and less visible with time. Depending on the location of the scar you can use mederma (sp?) to reduce the visibility. Also vitamin E is good for smoothing it out and making the scar softer. Discoloration will also typically fade out over time.
maddie

 

[Rose11]

I think I'm somewhat of a scar expert . I suffer from keloid scarring and I have lots of scars due to being accident prone and practicing sports when I was younger. When I was about 5 my little brother took a power drill and pretty much ruined one of my cheeks and I had a one inch scar in my face. I was lucky with that scar as I didn't get a keloid on top. They didn't do surgery either, just gel treatments and silicone sheeting and that was about it. Of course a scar is a scar and it will never fade away completely, but I'm 27 now and even without make-up you have to look really close to see it. However I have scars in other places in my body and you can see most of them.

There are several types of scars (hypertrophic, keloid, hipotrophic, etc.) and having a doctor determine what type of scar your nephew has is key. Not all scars need scar revision surgery and everybody scars differently. If his scar is raised (hypertropic) then he can use gels like Mederma or silicone sheets (Neosporin has a non-prescription version) to minimize the problem. Keloid scars grow in size and they need surgery in most cases. When I was in my teens I got additional piercings in my ears (dumb idea) and I got keloids in all of them and had to get them surgically removed. If his scar is hipotrophic it leaves like a hole in your skin (kinda looks like chicken pox scars or acne scars) and that type can't be removed. They use fillers like collagen injections for those. Your sister needs to take him to a doctor to see what he/she tells her.

Another thing I wanted to say is that it was very hard for me in my childhood to have people talk to me about my scar. I hated having pictures taken and when someone took one I always put my hand on that side of my face. Eventually it faded away, but I wish I had someone that just told me a scar is a scar and you have to accept it and live with it. I know now it's not that big of a deal because there are lots of people out there that have it worse than I do and did back then. Your nephew has to accept his scar like it is and then you can discuss scar treatments if they are recommended by the doctor. Let me know what happens. I've been there all through my childhood and teenage years.

 

[Dorothy]

My son when he was 7 got hit by a tennis racket end under the eye and ended up with 10 stitches in a curve under the eye. To make matters worse, the day after the stitches came out he was playing soccer in the neighborhood, and a kid missed the ball and found my sons cheek. When we took him back for more stitches, the maxio facio Doc, just shook his head and said this will not heel quite so nice.

He wore that half moon scar under that eye, and it was quite noticable for awhile. Fast forward 10 years, and the scar is hardly visible anymore. You have to look really hard to see it. Kids are very resilient, thank heavens.

 

[sparrow]

Thanks for the replies!

Rose, thanks for the details! I think his scar is hipotrophic as it looks like a little gouge in his skin. I'm going to do some research on this and the collagen injections. Both my nephew and the dog were under my charge when it happened, so I'd like to be able to fix it as much as possible.

Thanks again!

Sparrow


Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow - what a ride!’ — Peter Sage