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Scarring is a natural part of the healing process which begins as new skin is formed as a wound closes, whether in surgery or not.
Healing takes place when some very complex mechanisms are activated in order to re-establish the skin tissue. Surgical stitches are originally made for simple and quick scarring. As the two sides of the dermis join and the healing begins, it can take up to 15 to 20 consecutive days for the skin to fully renew along with its functional qualities.
A closed and healed scar is the final process, and will take on its definitive aspect 12 to 18 months afterwards.
Between the 20th day and the 12th month after the operation, the scar tissue goes into intense activity.
It is during this time span that the remodelling and maturity of the scar takes place and that it should just be a thin line with no inflammation. A relatively young scar is usually red, with bruising, hard and lumpy. This is caused by a physiological reaction. Except for very rare occasions, it is not recommended to surgically modify a scar that has not reached its full maturity; in other words before it has become flat, supple, elastic, painless and thin.
If this is not the case, the scar becomes pathological, and can then present chronic inflammation of the tissues, with excessive redness, hard and painful when reacting to touch or not, and the expansion of the scar tissue.
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