What is best scar treatment
BEST SCAR CREAM INGREDIENTS| DR DRAY
well hey guys what's up I'm just putting
a little of the Sara B skin renewing gel
oil on my lips I mentioned this in my
review video of this of this line I've
been enjoying kind of putting it on my
lips as just a little way to to shine
them up so yeah it is it's the end of
the day and my goodness it is boiling
hot here today not to rub it in
everyone's face who's freezing right now
because it is February but yeah it was
like 80 degrees he's at one point today
so it's kind of shorts weather or
whatever reason but who knows that'll
probably change in the blink of an eye
and I'll be freezing again anyways
ramblings aside as you can tell from the
title and thumbnail today's video I'm
going to talk about different
ingredients to look for in creams
intended to improve the appearance of
scars I have many videos on acne scars
hypertrophic scars keloid scars
different types of treatments for them
as far as what we do in the clinic to
treat these different types of scars
post acne hyperpigmentation
and post acne redness I've videos on
those as well but in today's video I'm
going to talk about some of the
ingredients namely a lot of the plant
derived ingredients that are that are
found in scar creams what the evidence
to support their use is if any scarring
occurs because the normal processes that
go into play when we have skin injury
for whatever reason the balance between
breaking down and building that has to
occur that balance is skewed and as a
result tips the tips towards more of the
building and less of the breakdown
aspect of skin injury and repair and as
a result you're left with a persistent
thick scar scars are permanent there is
not a cream or anything that is going to
melt them away they are permanent they
can however be removed through a variety
of surgical procedures
there are a variety of cosmetic
procedures that that would do in clinic
that help the appearance of scars and
help them to appear as though they're
not there none of these ingredients are
going to completely remove this scar but
they can't improve the appearance
probably the most evidence-based
intervention for improving the
appearance of scars are preventing the
formation of scars is using a silicone
gel at the time of injury and for a
continued period of time silicone
improves the elasticity of the injured
skin it improves the color it can also
improve the firmness and the overall
stretch can help the skin behave as it's
healing it can help it behave as it's
supposed to and kind of dyed everything
back into place it also will improve use
of a silicone containing scar cream also
will result in a better outcome in terms
of the color of the scar not only the
pigment so it will reduce the chances of
the scar healing with a dark stain but
it also will reduce the chances of the
scar healing with a lot of redness so
this is important for those of you out
there you suffer from post post acne
redness for example that redness that
persists for a long time after an acne
cyst is healed or for those of you who
have have scarring acne that heals with
a dark mark use of a silicone containing
the cream to that injured acne cyst can
improve down the road potentially or
improve the chances of you having a
better outcome of healing but also very
important during this stage is to keep
the injured skin hydrated I think
probably the largest misconception after
skin injury whether it be from cystic
scarring acne that's injured the skin or
a an external wound is that people think
that you need to dry it out and that is
actually the worst thing you can do you
want to keep the injury
skin hydrated because all of those
factors all of those little signaling
molecules all of those inflammatory
cells and your proliferating skin cells
they need a nice hydrated environment to
flow into into the healing into the
healing wound bed if that is dry it it
stands in the way of that and also
drives inflammation into the skin in the
wrong direction so away from healing and
towards towards kind of the response to
increased trans epidermal water loss and
keeping the injured skin hydrated is
really important for the cosmetic
outcome of injury the other advantage of
silicon and silicon scar creams is that
it provides an occlusive barrier on the
healing tissue to prevent any kind of
external forces from from agitating that
healing tissue and skewing the balance
of breakdown versus build up that
subsequently will lead to scars so it
really can just keep the skin on
lubricated hydrated supple but also also
serve as a barrier to external insults
like friction scars are more common and
more noticeable on areas of the body
where there's a lot of frictional forces
and a lot of tension forces so the
middle of the chest and women is a
common area to develop thick scars I'll
say this the jaw area with healing acne
the tension of the facial muscles favors
the formation of scars either with acne
or with with ingrown hairs you can see
scar formation in those areas so keeping
the area hydrated on decreasing some of
those forces with silicone but the skill
silicone scar gel is one way to do it
and even better are silicone scar sheets
because they can go on top of the on top
of the wound and provide an additional
an additional occlusive bearer not only
to external external horses but also to
you a little bacteria and things getting
in there
and contaminating room so silicone gels
are one of the most evidence-based
interventions for reducing a chances of
a disfiguring scar forming or improving
the appearance of existing scars even
existing scars if you use if you keep
the the the area hydrated with a
silicone containing product it can
improve the appearance of that scar
again not gonna take it away but I can
make make for a better better appearing
scar alongside silicone there's also
very evidence based for scar minimizing
the chances of a disfiguring scar
improving existing scars are the use of
hyaluronic acid containing containing
products so hyaluronic acid is a natural
hydrator that is present in the deeper
layers of the skin so it really just
serves as a humectant to plump up and
hydrate the tissue as it's healing and
again facilitate facilitate proper
response to injury it can help to
replenish some of the extracellular it's
called the extracellular matrix are kind
of thick building structure the
groundwork of that healing wound so by
and foe by and large the most
evidence-based and well studied
interventions are silicone and
hyaluronic acids the other ingredient
that will pop up as vitamin C vitamin C
is an antioxidant and it serves to
neutralize free radicals that can
subsequently damage that collagen that's
trying to be formed properly in the
healing healing skin so there's
enthusiasm for using vitamin C vitamin C
also is a key cofactor in building
collagen so you know it makes sense
perhaps not putting college putting
vitamin C on the skin that's injured
would be helpful for wound healing to be
honest though we don't have a lot of
data of showing vitamin C to be helpful
for improving the appearance of existing
scars or formation of scars
it is frequently present a lot of scar
creams though vitamin C suffers the
limitation and that it's pretty unstable
and
topical forms and degrades very easily
it's oxidized and when it's oxidized
it's not it's no longer infected and
it's very irritating sponges made a pile
erotic acid that are impregnated with
vitamin C when they are applied to woo
post surgical wounds that has been shown
to to improve the Cosmi sense of the
surgical scar however how that compares
to just the hyaluronic acid microspheres
with the use of hyaluronic acid by
itself which we already know is helpful
and then there's also a silicone
containing gel that has vitamin C in it
which has been shown to be helpful for
the improvement of the appearance of
scars but again it's silicone by itself
does that so it's hard to say for sure
so in short you know vitamin C topically
can be very irritating whether it be a
serum cream what-have-you it can
potentially be irritating and its
ability to act as an antioxidant is
often limited due to its stability all
right but along with same vein as a
vitamin C and vitamin C is an
antioxidant people asked all the time
about putting vitamin E on a wound or on
a scar can that help specifically
everybody is very enthusiastic about
breaking open vitamin E capsules and
putting them on a scar there's actually
a randomized control trial that looked
at the application of vitamin E to a
scar versus nothing and showed no
difference then there was another there
was another clinical trial that actually
looked at application of vitamin E out
of out of the capsules like you guys are
always asking me about out of the
capsules versus versus just plain plain
petrolatum
and they showed that actually the the
vitamin E was not helpful the vitamin E
was very irritating to many people
30 33 30 to 33 percent of people in the
study developed a
sensitivity and subsequent allergy to to
copper all or vitamin E and many people
in the study had a worst outcome with
use of vitamin E applied to apply to
this card now this time was using food
grade vitamin E like in the capsules to
confer all that you will find in skin
care products is mana is different and
is thought to be less irritating and
less allergenic so moisturizers and
things that will often have to copper
all added as an antioxidant to protect
the integrity of the product in the
bottle not so much to offer any benefit
to the user and that form of vitamin E
took off for all and in cosmetic
products is is thought to be less
irritating less less allergenic but the
but the food grade vitamin E is
discouraged from from doing that it's
just been actually been shown to to
worst of the appearance of scars so I I
don't recommend doing that but I know it
is popular then the other ingredient
that I think it's a lot of attention is
onion extract onion extract is what is
in the derma e ScarJo and then what is
in Mederma onion extract is actually
nante like vitamin c and vitamin e an
antioxidant so it can scavenge free
radicals that would get in the way of
proper injury healing and its
anti-inflammatory so kind of helps to
keep the keep the inflammatory response
in the wound right where it needs to be
potentially rather than skewing it away
towards a towards a an abnormal side of
things and it's also anti-infective so
theoretically it could help prevent
infection of the healing of the injured
skin and that infection you know would
subsequently compromise the compromise
the healing of the wound but as an
anti-infective maybe that would be
helpful it contains something called
curse eaten which is a compound that can
stabilize some of the cells in the
immune system help them to function
better and can inhibit abnormal
proliferation of the cells that put out
collagen which is
helpful because that's kind of what
leads to thick scars is the cells called
fibroblasts there they're just going
going to town and doing - too much
building too much of the wrong thing and
so curse eaten from onion extract
potentially could help that there was a
rabbit study in a rabbit ear model
looking at onion extract and that
actually showed the rabbit ear model of
skin injury and improvement in the in
wound healing
so then subsequently you know it's found
its way into a lot of scar creams like I
already said Mederma and that kind of
thing so there's one there was actually
a randomized control trial looking at
onion extract containing cream versus
just plain petrolatum like Vaseline and
that study showed no difference between
onion extract and just plain Vaseline in
terms of the appearance of the scar scar
formation at the time when applied at
the time of injury and for a period of
time thereafter then there was another
trial that actually looked at scars with
onion extract and versus versus control
and then the scars treated with onion
extract actually had were more red more
irritated and there was no difference in
terms of the thickness and overall
overall shape of the scar they were just
more red irritated so if anything onion
extract might not be such a good
ingredient particularly if you were
somebody who makes red scars your acne
heals with the red mark might not be it
might not be the best choice I don't
recommend mederma because because of
that the other ingredient that holds a
lot of promise is a plant derived
ingredients until a ad attica the asian
pennywort this contains a variety of
compounds that are anti-inflammatory and
it has been kind of a dietary it's been
looked at as a dietary supplement and
wound healing and individuals consuming
225 milligrams a day of centella
asiatica and a capsule form had better
better wound wound healing than those
who did not so there are some laboratory
studies
some models of wounding that show that
application of centella asiatica can
help to control some of the abnormal
fibroblast proliferation that leads to
scarring stimulate some of the processes
that down regulate excessive scarring
so if centella asiatica is very
promising as an ingredient for scar scar
intervention but again there's not there
aren't any
randomized control large trials to to
substantiate those so you know stay
tuned it isn't a lot of scar creams and
seems to be well tolerated and seems to
be helpful but we don't have we don't
have a lot many studies to to really say
that for sure the other ingredient that
I get questions about all the time in
fact people were alarmed that I had
reservations about it in my t.j.maxx
video is turmeric or specifically the
the compound within turmeric curcumin
curcumin czar very rich in antioxidants
and they can theoretically help to
facilitate reopen theorization or
healing over of the skin and they're
also antibacterial the problem with
curcumin is in our you know turmeric
curcumin in ingesting them and so they
have kind of a low bioavailability so
it's hard to say what the appropriate
dosage would be however the issue with
putting it on the skin as a few things
first of all it's very alkaline because
it is so alkaline meaning it has a high
ph the skin house has an acidic ph it
can be incredibly irritating the other
issue with curcumin is not it has a low
solubility in and so it's really
difficult to get it to go into into
moisturizer into creams and things like
that and then the third issue with it is
that it stains the skin so those things
kind of kind of have limited its making
its way into mainstream mainstream
interventions for scars or scar
treatments and so it's really more about
figuring out how to use it in a way that
is bioavailable and effective so that we
can study it so at this point
inadequate studies and what we know
about the chemistry it suggests that
it's irritating and you know I've seen
people doing doing turmeric masks I
resent what it with a really bad you
turn dermatitis from doing that I don't
recommend it but I know it is I know it
is popular then the last ingredient that
appears a lot in skincare products so I
think it's worth is worth considering
and it seems to be low low risk you know
no harm no foul at any rate a sea
buckthorn and it's what is in the
stretch of liquid gold I'm reviewed a
long time ago sea buckthorn is rich in
antioxidants again like like most of
these ingredients of interest and it has
been shown to help protect cells so that
they're not they're not as susceptible
to injury so that's important during
during the all those stages of healing
healing injured skin when all these
different cell types come in and it's
also rich in kind of immune modulating
compounds that can help the help the
immune system act in accordance with
what it's supposed to do within the
within the healing tissue so there's a
lot of potential there for sea buckthorn
there is an ant there's some animal
studies showing that it can improve and
accelerate wound healing which you know
you can postulate with subsequently
result in better appearing scars so sea
buckthorn is promising as is centella
asiatica but just don't have just don't
have the studies at this point so far
away my number one recommendation for
reducing the chances of a bad scar
forming are to use a silicone silicone
gel or skill silicone scar sheet
basically to keep with the with the with
the idea in mind that what you're what
you're hoping to accomplish here is to
keep the keep the area hydrated and keep
it protected that's why i like the
sheets because they actually provide a
physical barrier they're a little hard
to wear all the time
so the silicon based scar gel scar
creams are a really good way to go i
like scar away
you know that does what I recommend
outside the silicone scar gel and scar
sheets honestly just keeping just
keeping it hydrated with a little plain
Vaseline is probably your best bet a
little plain Vaseline and keeping it
covered not only is keeping it covered a
good idea to reduce those external
forces but also it's going to help
protect it for them from exposure to Sun
when when that healing tissue is exposed
to Sun and exposed to UV even UV that
comes through clouds on a gray day or
comes through the window comes through
your car that will that will disrupt
that balance of choreography that has to
go on to heal the skin properly not only
that but it will it will tilt everything
over in a direction that favors healing
with a dark mark a dark stain so that's
called post inflammatory
hyperpigmentation so putting putting
some plain Vaseline some plain ointment
on and then covering it up with with a
bandage is a great way to go doesn't
have to be a fancy fancy and greet
doesn't have to be a fancy product at
all in fact you know oftentimes the
fancier the more risky because they
don't have a lot of irritating
ingredients that if anything can only
cause problems you know I mentioned
vaseline is an option I love the Sarah V
healing ointment another just nice
pointment for those of you guys in the
UK and Australia is the Q V intensive
pointment have you guys used this I got
this on Amazon UK we don't have it in
the United States you know you can't buy
it here in the States but you know we
have plenty of ointments so you know you
know how to feel like you have to import
this to the States I'm just bringing it
up here for for my viewers in other
countries to let them know that if they
have this in their bathroom this is a
great option as well you know I started
out the video putting the Sara V skin
renewing gel oil on my lips but this is
also a reasonable a reasonable choice to
put on to put on a on injured you know
on on a scar scars can be very itchy and
dry and this will help keep it hydrated
I just make it feel better it will help
the suppleness so this isn't this is a
good one then in terms of this scintilla
AC Attica a really good good way to go
to pursue that is the LA roche-posay
stick up last bone b5
this contains centella asiatica it's
very occlusive it's it's almost like an
ointment because it has it has an
ingredient called panthenol which makes
things really kind of sticky and viscous
so this is really nice on on a scar if
you know it it prevents it prevents loss
of water because it's nice and inclusive
it's a little sticky and tacky so again
I was with any of these it's a good idea
to go come on over just with a bandage
so that's another option and one not
that I enjoy this this can also you know
you can also use these things if you're
somebody who has healing acne these will
not clog pores so they're fine on the
face so my acne spot video I mentioned
the pimple patches from cause or X I'm a
huge fan of those because they they help
to they help to protect that healing
acne bump not only from frictional
forces keep it hydrated so they can heal
properly but also they protect it from
sun so I'm a fan of those they are
difficult to wear 24/7 if you are
motivated to that is a good way to go
but these creams and ointments that I
mentioned Vaseline included they can be
applied to a healing acne balm you know
I said in the beginning of the video the
compulsion or the desire is always to
dry things out that's actually the last
thing you want to do
keeping the healing acne balm hydrated
and you know keeping it protected with a
physical barrier can actually help the
healthy improve the appearance of that
healing acne balm but anyways guys I
hope this video is helpful to you if you
liked it give it a thumbs up share it
with your friends and as always don't
forget sunscreen and subscribe I'll talk
to you guys tomorrow
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