When do scars stop stretching?

[harlee]

I'm hoping to be approved for 7 weeks off work so I can have my surgery and recover as best as I can. I really dont want to stretch my scars when I come back to work. Can my scars still stretch after 7 weeks or is the skin pretty much healed by then? I'm going to be really careful after 7 weeks anyway but I'm just really worried 

[Kreuzfidel]

My surgeon told me to wear micropore tape over the incisions to stop them from stretching for 3 months.  I assume that after 3 months, stretching can still happen - but it may only be minimal.  I would say you'd probably do well to do the same.  Ask your surgeon.

[Felix]

If you can go 7 weeks without stretching your scars, you are well ahead of normal expectations and should be okay. Your skin can stretch after that, but shouldn't much.

My situation is abnormally intense, and I have never, ever been able to let my incisions heal "safely" or carefully. I did a lot of stretching, lifting, taking blunt force blows to the sites, etc. The scars I have seem to vary more in connection to the particular surgeon than to the situation after the surgery, though.

I've learned over the years to value surgical alterations that hurt less over those that look pretty. My least favorite site (and the one that is on my mind the most) is my right ankle, where a rockstar sports medicine guy tried to remove titanium pieces that didn't want to come out. He left me unstable and in chronic pain, and made it where I couldn't do my favorite things - hiking, basketball, roller skating - anymore.

My ugliest and nicest scars are both from the same surgeon. The ugly side is the result of an emergency surgery to deal with a hematoma, and the nice side is a simple removal of breast tissue by an oncologist who usually deals with breast cancer.

[harlee]

Will silicone strips work the same as micropore tape as far as stopping any stretching goes?

It's good to know that I should be mostly ok after 7 weeks tho

[Bimmer Guy]

I would suggest doing some research in medical journals to answer your question. I suspect that by 7 weeks any stretching would be more a function  of your skin type (elasticity ?), than time. Meaning, I don't think that waiting another week for example would make that much difference. But, again, I think k you should look to academic literature rather than anecdotal  evidence, or even what one surgeon says.

I assume you have a very physical job?

[harlee]

I assume you have a very physical job?

Yeah, my job is not too bad at the moment but still physical as I work in the construction industry But I could be moved to a different company when I go back to work and I really don't know what sort of lifting and reaching somewhere else might have me doing if I'm unlucky!