Scar Revision Surgery in Orange County
When your scar is located in a highly visible place, it can impact your self-confidence and even when located in a more discrete location, it may be difficult to move on from the traumatic incident. Dr. Jacob Boeckmann offers a variety of treatments to help reduce or eliminate the appearance of scars, allowing you to look and feel your very best.
What Can a Scar Revision Surgery Accomplish?
A scar revision can correct scars that are:
- Wide
- Crossing natural creases or facial contour lines
- Elevated above the adjacent skin
- Depressed below the adjacent skin
- A different color than adjacent tissues
Types of Scars
Scarring is a natural response of your body's healing process after suffering a burn, injury, or incision site after surgery. This fact is frequently forgotten by individuals who think that a plastic surgeon can make an incision and leave no visible scar. In reality all scar revision procedures are designed to replace an unsightly or disfiguring scar with a better scar, one which is more narrow, more level, blends with the surrounding skin surface, and which causes no contracture or pull on the surrounding structures.
The appearance and severity of your scar depends upon a variety of factors, including:
- The depth and size of the wound
- The location of the injury
- Your age
- Genetics
- Your ethnicity
- Wound infection
- Increased wound tension
- Sun exposure
There are many different types of scars, each requiring a high level of skill and understanding to achieve the optimal correct.
Keloid Scars
These scars are the result of an overaggressive healing response to an injury and often are larger and extend outside the original area of injury.
Hypertrophic Scars
These scars are the result of excess amount of collagen deposit which results in a raised, often red scar within the boundaries of the initial injury. Hypertrophic scars can also be associated with itching at the site or pain.
Acne Scars
Acne is a common condition experienced by 80% of the population between the ages of 11 and 30, and up to 5% of adults. When severe breakouts occur, they can leave behind unsightly scars which can result in permanent disfigurement and decreased self esteem. Acne scarring is classified into 3 types, ice pick, atrophic (boxcar), or rolling scars.
Contracture Scars
These scars are common after a burn injury and cause your skin to tighten, which may prevent movement. In severe cases, contracture scars may extend deep beneath the surface of your skin, impacting nerves and muscles as well.
What Scar Revision Treatments are Available?
Every scar is unique and requires careful consideration from a surgeon who is highly skilled in the art and science of wound healing. Dr. Jacob Boeckmann provides some of the best scar revision in Orange County. During your consultation Dr. Boeckmann will listen and examine your area of concern before providing a customized scar removal treatment which will vary depending on the type and location of your scar. Some scar revision treatment options in Orange County include:
Scar Revision Surgery Excision
When removing an existing scar or blemish by simple excision, Dr. Boeckann makes every effort to place the line of incision as nearly as possible in or parallel to one of the normal crease lines of the face. Simple excision of the old scar with meticulous closure may be all that is required. Sometimes it may be necessary to change the direction of a scar so that it will follow these lines – a technique known as a Z-plasty. When changing the direction of some scars is impossible, an additional technique of camouflage such as W-plasty or geometric broken line closure may be required. Some large unsightly scars may require multiple operations over a period of time (e.g. serial excisions).
Laser Skin Resurfacing
This powerful treatment can be used on almost all scars. Laser skin resurfacing works by breaking down damaged skin one layer at a time to stimulate your body to produce new, healthy collagen, which ultimately eliminates the scar and leaves behind smooth, healthy skin.
Microneedling
A gentle but effective treatment, microneedling involves using a special tool to create tiny wounds in the scar to stimulate your body to produce new collagen, causing new, undamaged skin to grow and dramatically improving the appearance of the scar.
Subcision
Subcision is the ideal scar treatment for patients with ice-pick acne scars. Subcision eliminates ice-pick scarring by releasing the deep, tethered attachments underneath the skin to restore a smooth facial contour.
Steroid Injection
Steroid injections are ideal for hypertrophic or keloid scarring. Steroids improve keloids and hypertrophic scarring by breaking down collagen bonds and fibers to reduce the amount of scar tissue present.
Our Reconstructive Surgeon
Dr. Jacob Boeckmann is a double-board certified facial plastic surgeon in Orange County who offers a variety of treatments to help reduce or eliminate the appearance of scars, allowing you to look and feel your very best. If unsightly scars are affecting your appearance and harming your confidence, call our Orange County office and schedule a consultation with Dr. Jacob Boeckmann. During your private consultation, he will carefully evaluate the areas that concern you most, before composing a custom treatment plan designed to restore your skin to its optimal condition.
