Hi everyone,

I had surgery just over a month ago, and only peeled the surgical strips off the incisions a few days ago. The skin is really red and irritated.

(I had hoped to try using micropore tape to help stop scar stretching but I don't think my skin would take it for months to come!)

Anyway, am I ok to use hydrocortisone cream on the incisions to help calm the skin? I'm using scar guard which as that in it, so I am assuming it's ok to put cream on.

I want to use the cream tonight as when I apply the scar guard it doesn't cover all the red bits (way too expensive at $70 a bottle to try and do that). In terms of OD'ing on hydrocortisone the scar guard comes off when I peel the micropore off so I guessing I would be ok for a couple of nights to apply cream instead.

Any thoughts?

I'm just being wimpy as I'm scared to do the wrong thing and mess things up!

Thanks

The skin that is irritated is around the scar?

When I got the tape off my skin was really irritated. I think my nurse used a light adhesive remover spray or maybe it was water. It probably is OK to use it, but I don't know what an OD on hydrocortisone would be like. I only had the tape on for two weeks, so maybe it was less irritated than yours. I received silicon strips after the tape was removed, so maybe further irritation was reduced because I had a "shield".

If your uncomfortable with the extra hydrocortisone use Aquiphour or Vaseline. Note that both have petroleum jelly, which may interact with the scar guard (petroleum jelly + silicon = bad)

Oooh, I think I'm even more nervous about using it now :/

I used hydrocortisone around the where the bandages were and near the nipples. I didn't put any on the nipples but I did use some on my incisions (not all the way around but near where the drains were. I had a lot of irritation and redness an it really helped. I didn't use the scar gel. You might be allergic to an adhesive in the scar strips so you might try not using for a week. You can try something like scaraway gel or Kelocote. But anyway my scars look very good 7 months out. And i really needed that stuff for my sanity. I was itching and red and so on.

--Jay

Great thanks Jay, that's really helpful

Glad to hear your scars look good now too.

I think I'm more concerned about them softening up than whether they stretch. Yeah I'd prefer them not to stretch but if I had to choose over how they feel and how they look I'd go for feel.

For some reason I hadn't anticipated the scars being so deep and so hard (stands to reason really) but I do feel that if they stretch they also must do so from quite deep inside, and not JUST on the surface on the bit we can actually see. Given that I can't really see how taping the surface is going to make all that much difference. Dr G told me it wouldn't help and I thought surely it has to, but now I think I agree with him.

I may try on and off, or putting longer strips up and down when exercising to hold the whole area a little more still. Overall though I guess it's not good to not things move as our body 'heals to meet the demands put upon it' so we need to let the skin and flesh underneath move how it needs to so it can heal and stretch out as it needs to.

I'll stop waffling now!! lol

Quote from: Mattfromengland on June 21, 2014, 07:19:30 AM
Great thanks Jay, that's really helpful

Glad to hear your scars look good now too.

I think I'm more concerned about them softening up than whether they stretch. Yeah I'd prefer them not to stretch but if I had to choose over how they feel and how they look I'd go for feel.

may try on and off, or putting longer strips up and down when exercising to hold the whole area a little more still. Overall though I guess it's not good to not things move as our body 'heals to meet the demands put upon it' so we need to let the skin and flesh underneath move how it needs to so it can heal and stretch out as it needs to.

I'll stop waffling now!! lol

Mine did not stretch too much and I seriously doubt it was the hydrocortisone. I only used it a little bit so that I would not go insane from itching. It seemed to work okay and if I went insane it was from other factors.

I did post it before but this is how I look now (it's actually 6 months) but not too different. (I think I got a little more pecs now!) Scar treatment has been Scar strips (generic) the first month; ScarGuard the second, and mostly Scaraway gel since then. Dr G was my surgeon, if you don't recall.




--Jay

Oh wow you look fab Jay. I hope my scars hold out even half as well as that at 6 months. Congrats on the pecs too

Thanks for posting the pic

I have lost some muscle while not being able to do stuff after surgery, but I did go flat out over around 8 weeks though coming into surgery so developed pretty quickly and I guess that means it's lost just as quickly. Been assured though that it will come back mega quick once I'm able to work out again.