The lifespan of scars

[CharlotteMaidment]

I work as an Occupational Therapist in a Burns Scar Management Clinic for the NHS and wanted to discuss the topic of scar maturation and the lifespan of scarring.

Without getting too technical about phases of scarring, the general lifespan of a scar (not keloid) is about 18 months to 2 years, with the most active phase being in the first 6 months.
Scars are at their most impressionable during their first 6 months, when conservative treatments such as silicon, pressure garments and massage will have some effect. After this time, the scar is less likely to respond to these treatments as the remodelling phase slows down.
At about the 6 month mark, the scar can become quite red or purple - this is entirely normal and following this, the colour will start to drop out and fade. It is important during the first 2 years after a scar has formed to wear sun protection at a high factor or cover up as the pigment in the skin can be affected, leaving the scar more noticeable and of darker pigment.

Of course this is all subjective to type of scarring (i.e burns scarring compared to surgical scarring).

[ashleyjackson]

Hi,
Great information. Really very useful.
Thanks!!

[George99]

Hi thank you very much for the information.

[unclesam]

Thanks for the information. I experienced the scars in different parts of the body has different lifespans e.g. face scars stays very longer than any other scars on any other part of the body. Soft skin scars on elbow joint also sustains for long.

[sukie_sandhar@hotmail.com]

Hi there, thank you so much for that! do you have any additional information on hypertrophic scarring? i have read online that these tend to stop “growing” for want of a better word by month six, is this true? do you have any recommendations on what can be done to reduce this or is it just a waiting game? they are located on my arm for reference. thank you!