scar prevention questions
 

I have a few questions about risk factors for scars that aren't really immediately relevent but I've wondered about for a while and haven't been able to find any information, and I was hoping people here might have some ideas...

1. Will putting the sticky part of a band-aid over a partly healed cut increase scarring? I've read that interfering with the healing process increases the risk of scars (or of worse scars), but I'm not sure whether that would interfere, or when in the healing process it stops mattering. I know that bandages usually advertise that they won't stick to wounds, but I'm guessing that's mainly because that makes it hurt less to remove the bandage - does it actually interfere with healing if it sticks? I guess that removing it could potentially pull of a scab, but would it still do anything if the scab had already fallen off on its own?

2. Do waterproof band-aids effect the healing process? I've been using waterproof band-aids recently because they seem like they'll do a better job of keeping the nasty bacteria I'm working with this summer out of my cuts. I've noticed that whatever blood was left on the cut when I put the bandaid on is still there when the band-aid comes off several days later, whereas with regular band-aids most of the dried blood washes off the first time I take a shower. Does more exposure to air or being rinsed every day make a difference to the healing process? If so, which is better?

3. Will putting lotion on a partly healed cut effect the healing process? Obviously I wouldn't put it on an open wound, or on a scab, but what about a little after that when it hasn't either disappeared or turned into a normal scar yet but has a complete layer of skin over it? It seems like in the summer a lot of times there's dry or dead skin at the edges of a lot of my cuts for a long time after there's no blood or scabs or anything and it looks like there's intact skin covering it. I think the cuts/scars would be a lot less noticable if I put lotion or something on it so the dry skin would be less visible, but I'm not sure if that will mess things up or make the scars worse that they would be otherwise.

4. Does swimming effect healing cuts? Obviously if it's not clean water then that would be bad for infections, but I could imagine that in swimming pools, the chlorine might help to clean cuts better and kill off any bacteria that found their way in. But it seems like it increases the previously mentioned dry skin, and I don't know if that has any effect.

Anything that disturbs the scab or new skin, or prevents the wound from closing is considered interfering.

If a bandage sticks to a wound and you pull it off it will interfere with the healing process. Non stick gauze bandages usually don't stick, but if you ever have a problem soak the bandage in warm water to loosen it before you pull it off and that should help loosen it.

The best thing for healing is to keep an environment as close to normal skin as possible. I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean about the blood, but you want to keep a cut clean, warm and moist, since that is how the tissue is when there is skin over it anyway.

Once a new layer of skin has formed it is absolutely OK to use lotion, scar cream or something like Neosporin on the new skin. You want to keep it hydrated and supple.

Chlorine in swimming pools will dry out your skin more and irritate any wounds you have becuase it is pretty harsh. It will also kill off good bacteria. You should try and prevent swimming while you have cuts that are still in the scab phase, and only swim when you have no broken skin, or after the new skin has formed.


AD

Thanks :)

Does that still apply if there was already a layer of new skin before the bandage went on, or only for wounds that were still open at the time? Also, will the warm water thing help with the adhesive on bandages and tape, or just for gauze and similarly non-adhesive things? I know it can make it easier to pull the band-aid off, but does it also help it not interfere with healing as much?

I think what I meant about the blood is just that if the blood isn't being washed away when there's a waterproof band-aid then probably no water is getting in, and nothing else is being washed away either. It's mainly just my indicator of whether or not water was actually getting in. It's also kind of what made me wonder about in the first place since right after the band-aid comes off, the cut looks a lot less healed than it normally would after however many days, at least until I wash it.

Do you think that covering it with a waterproof band-aid would make the environment more or less like normal skin compared to covering it with a normal, non-waterproof band-aid?

Just out of curiousity... I know oral antibiotics can kill off good bacteria in the digestive system, but I'd never heard of it with skin before. Searching for "good bacteria" doesn't seem to turn up much that isn't either aimed at small children or trying to sell me a skin care product, and I know there's a better word for such bacteria, but I can't think of what it is. Do you know a somewhat more technical term I could try?

yes we do have good bacteria on the skin. it keeps the worse nasties from attcking our skin and its wounds. some are "opportunistic" bacteria in that while the skin is unbroken, they wont attack and keep nasties at bay, but given a chance they will infect. just make sure you used antiseptic then cover then cover them. another baddies for cuts, apart from chlorine, is hydrogen peroxide. never ever use it ok?
about your question, try native bacteria, or integumentary system instead of skin.
about water proof bandaids, the skin needs air to heal, so depending on how waterproof they are, it depends.
on healing scabs you can rub gently vitamin e oil in which would increase the ability for the skin to heal without scars.
cant think of much else to help but will let you know if i come up with anything else

No, new skin shouldn't stick to a bandage, only a scab or an open wound will. The warm water thing applies to any type of bandage that a wound is sticking to. If the bandage isn't sticking, you don't need to use warm water to get it off.

For the waterproof bandages I think it depends on the brand.

Initially the wound will look less healed becuase it heals differently when kept moist. When a wound dries out and forms a scab it heals from the top down. The outer layer heals faster, but the whole wound does not. When you keep a wound moist and clean it heals from the bottom up. It appears to heal slower becuase the top layer forms last, but over all it takes less time for the wound to heal completley.

Unfortunately no I don't know a better term, nor do I know the names of any of the bacteria/organisms off the top of my head.


AD

I know that gauze and such wouldn't normally stick to anything but an open wound or scab, but the adhesive in the sticky part of band-aids (the part not meant to go over the cut) or in adhesive tape would still stick. What I'm wondering is if I have one cut that's mostly healed and has a new skin over it but doesn't look like it's completely healed yet, and then a fresh cut next to it, is it ok to put a band-aid over the new cut so that the adhesive on the band-aid is over the old one? When I can't fit a band-aid over a cut without the adhesive parts landing on old cuts then I usually wrap it with rolled gauze instead which always seems excessive for a small cut, and a lot of times I feel like I have to cut more just to justify the bandage which obviously isn't a good thing.