Hey, Sebryn. Somehow I missed your reply. I have appreciated you responding to me in the past. Thank you for responding again with your thoughts. I did do the micropore tape as you suggested previously. My body seemed to just not want to keep it attached. No matter what I did.
I have read a lot of articles from academic journals. All I see is just the information on use the silicone and massage when it comes to hypertrophic. To be honest with you, with everything I have read, I have a hard time believing that micropore tape can keep a hypertrophic scar from happening, if that is what the body wants to do. I had a colon resection and did not have a hypertrophic scar there. The scar I got when they put my chemo port in (horizontal scar) was not hypertrophic. The scar created to remove the port, (vertical scar), right under the first scar, became hypertrophic (which I just realized when I figured out that my DI scars were hypertrophic. At the time, I assumed the scar was wider/more rasied due to just poor stitching by the surgeon when it came to the second scar). Both of these are at the top of my left pec. The hypertrophic vertical 3 year old scar has gone down considerably since I started putting silicone treatment on it beginning when I started my DI scar treatment. I am quite pleased. The non-hypertrophic horizontal scar was already beautifically healed. I just used Scar Gaurd periodically on that scar.
Hypertrophic scars occur most often on the chest. That is probably why my colon resection scars did not become hypertrophic.
antiobioman, try to not get too upset about it. Be conscious of using the silicone gel or silicone strips. The reality is we have no control over this if this is what our bodies want to do. In the end, they will fade and flatten, it will just take longer than scars that are not hypertrophic. Silicone and massage. That is the treatment. Not to be negative, but they may get worse. Mine did.
I tried every combination imaginable to try to manage this. Silicone gel. Siiligone sheets. Massage. No massage. Different combinations, including time of day and order of treatment. Here's the thing, if the body feels a need to create hypertrophic scars, it will. This is the only conclusion I can come to and what the academbic literature supports.
Usually hypertrophic scars start around week 2-3 and continue from there. I am at 6 months tomorrow, actually (I just realized this), and they really widened the last couple of weeks. Like I said, I can only do what I can do. I am trying to have a good attitude about it. I am lucky that I had top surgery. Anything else is minor.
As always, thanks for listening, guys.
