Scars, how they heal, what helps?

MT1 · February 2012

So my surgeon whip stitched me together and he didn't 'ease' the skin porportionately (can you tell I am a seamstress?), so I have a pucker or tight gather of skin under my right arm. My breast cancer was on my right and had lymph node involvement so I assume with all the poking around they did the skin stretched. I did have bilateral mastectomy without reconstruction as well, but the left side scar does not have this type of pucker.

I know the skin on my right side is tighter because of radiation and the drain on that side had to be in longer, so I also have a dimple.

To top all this off, I have a frozen shoulder right now and am stretching 3 times a day to try to loosen it up.

Now on to my question. I know that when women get pregnant, their skin stretches and they sometimes get stretch marks. Will this happen with the skin surrounding my scars? Has it happened to you? How does skin recover from scarring, will I ever be flat or will that pucker always be there?

Is there anything I can do to help the skin heal? To loosen the scars? Is that even possible?

leggo · February 2012

Swedish Bitters work fairly well on scars.

susan_02143 · February 2012

Vitamin E, the essential oil, not a creme, works wonders on scars. My scars are almost invisible and I believe that the regular application of this oil during the healing time is the reason. I used Jason's which I found at Whole Foods.

It also appears to be available at amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Natural-Cosmetics-Beauty-Vitamin/dp/B0000535TD

*susan*

lilylady · February 2012

I had a BMX without recon last Aug and I am not thrilled with my results either. I am also a sewer-LOL. Besides the part where they wander all over the place I have my puckers in the front however not in my armpit. Like a bad dart in a cheap blouse. The term for these are dog-ears and there have been several threads about this since I got started. Some have had their fixed by a plastic surgeon later on. A lady called Starak would be a good one to PM about it. Some are really disfiguring and uncomfortable. Mine aren't bad enough to consider surgery.

My scars themselves are flat but like i said they come to a point in the front at the end of the incisions. They have not caused a problem with rubbing or friction like some of them in the armpit can do. I don;t have any stretch marks either. I knew I would never do the recon so I told her don't leave any extra skin.

If you search dog-ears you will find out more about it.

Moderators · February 2012

Hi Melly,

You may want to check out some good advice on the main Breastcancer.org site on Scar Tissue Formation. There's some good tips on helping to manage and minimalize the scarring.

Hope this helps!

--The Mods

MT1 · February 2012

Thanks all.

I don't have dog ears, I learned what they were before surgery and found a plastic surgeon who felt he could give me the result I wanted. I showed him photos of a result I would be happy to have, feel OK about and that I would not want to see on my body, a total of three photos. He was able to give me the result I wanted. What I am talking about here is ease, the skin under my right arm was stretched to such a degree that he needed to bunch it up so that it could be sewed shut. It doesn't poke out or anything but it is thicker than much of the scar around it.

And boy does my scar burn as I am doing the rehab stretched for my frozen shoulder.

rianne2580 · February 2012

Hi Melly T,

I was always told...saw 3 different PT's who all worked very well...showed me message, stretching, manipulation of the scar tissue in a gentle way. They kept telling me all those little nerve endings were severed and it takes about a year to get them to settle down. Bras were my worst enemy for at least 6 months. I did not get recon and now my chest is nice and flat, can hardly see the scar. When you touch the scar over and over, gently moving that skin around, those bumps smooth out. Mine did. I had a big lumpy bump on my side and it is almost gone. Now my nerve endings are settling down. Yes, I had burning in the middle of the night, pain all day sometimes. Your chest was shocked, muscles, nerves, tendons, lymph nodes...it's a big deal. Be patient it will heal.

crystalphm · February 2012

Melly, I was taught a myofascial release for my scars, which is just a massage that stretches the scar, and it is supposed to break up these "bad darts on a cheap blouse"...(that is priceless :-)

I have the same thing in my cancer side, where my armpit skin is actually pulled down far enough so I have armpit hair where I never did before...and I just keep massaging the area, and hope this will help me.

Boy did I get annoyed at one doctor visit where he said "Wow, this side shouldn't be so tight"...I felt like screaming "Well who did the surgery???HMMM????" but I kept quiet.

All of this makes wearing a prosthesis on that side very painful...so I am still flat. The non cancer side feels good though.

Oh yes, my scar burned like it was on fire during PT, I kept thinking it was certainly red and bleeding...but not even a mark!

Outfield · February 2012

I don't know the seamstress terms, but it's obvious that it was difficult to make a smooth seam in my armpit. Too much taken out, obvious that the skin over my armpit now isn't exactly the same skin that was there before, and it's not the same armpit. I think the skin isn't like most fabric because if you magically removed it from the body not even a section of it would lie totally flat. It's pretty adaptable, but it's much more likely to stretch than to shrink.

Melly, how long ago were you diagnosed? Scars keep maturing and changing sometimes for longer than a year.

Crystal, you still have armpit hair? Even on my side that was irradiated I don't really have much hair anymore. It's just a totally different body.

My experience is that stretch marks (have had some here and there) happen when something is getting stretched, not later after it's been stretched a while.

crazypenguinsfan · February 2012

So, I have a long lumpectomy scar, high up that goes from the edge of my armpit to about the center of my chest. Now that I need to mastectomy, my surgeon mentioned that he would be "getting rid" of the lumpectomy scar, that I would have one scar about in the middle of my chest. But, I have no clue how he is going to accomplish this- stretch my skin (from my armpit) down to the middle of my chest? I am envisioning armpit hair in the center of my chest now. I never thought about the "how" until I read this thread. I can't imagine how he is going to pull this off. Will I have to shave the middle of my chest? Then, I also use this side / arm for everything since I am a lefty, will this stretched skin make it hard for me to move my arm freely? (I am not having recon)

sorry I guess I am freaking out a little just having a bit of anxiety since it is the week before surgery and I tend to worry about everything!

cinnamonsmiles · February 2012

I had a bmx with node dissection. When I was healed enough, my surgeon told me to use Vitamin E creme (comes cheap at walmart). Twice a day, I rubbed it on the scars, which I also used that time to gently massage the tissue. I can't remember at what point she recommended I use Cimeosil strips. They were about $35 in 2011 and available without prescription. She had me wear them at night. They are a gel like strip and reuseable until the stickiness wears out. They are also cuttable so you can cut them to fit your scars. My scars are now pale (they were cherry red) and they are flat and after over a year out from surgery, they look really good. You can also wash the strips. I used them until they started falling off at night and had to hunt for them in bed before I would get up. I wanted to get every bit of help out of them.

dogeyed · February 2012

MELLY, for a couple months after surgery, it looked VERY rumpled and bulged, but now the whole scar area is almost completely smoothed and looks "normal." I DO have a dogear under my arm, I hate it, but when I put lotion on, I massage it. The lotion I put on my scar was prescribed Radiaplex, which I had radiation after mastectomy, and I believe it or ANY kind of lotion will go a long ways towards easing up the scar trauma. Also, pretty much daily you do have to pull that arm up and to the side, and in general prevent the scar from squeezing too tight and hurting. Your shoulder pain should go away about as fast as your scar completely heals. One day, if massaging my dogear doesn't work, I'll pay for a plastic surgeon to cut it off, but even tho you don't have one, I just wanted to add that in as one of the things I'm trying to live with as relates to post surgerical difficulties. Basically in time it goes away, use lotion and keep stretching, and if something is still goofy-looking in a year, then start saving up for a plastic surgeon.

MT1 · February 2012

I was diagnosed January 2010, but had surgery in June. My radiated side (the right) looks much more healed than my left, which looks better each day and week. I am not yet one year out from surgery. My scars and the work my plastic surgeon did were exemplary. I would gladly show images if I could figure out how. I do think all this stretching to relieve my frozen shoulder is making stretch marks, but because I can't lift my arm high, I can't really see what is going on.

dogeyed · February 2012

Melly, I would really be interested to hear if lotion and the simple raising and swinging bad arm with good arm is helping you? If not, I can give you a detailed change to make in your overall frozen shoulder routine and more involved tips on loosening scar tissue if you would like. One thing I DID want to add, at least, is that I found out radiation caused a whole lot of discomfort in my shoulder, or more precisely my shoulder blade, and it wasn't frozen shoulder, rather it was something a number of other women who went thru rads experienced for a month before completion of rads and then for a couple months after. Just food for thought on that one. Do update us on how things are going. We want to help you out, for sure. GG

MT1 · May 2012

It has been more than 3 months since I started this topic and I just wanted to weigh in again. My right shoulder is almost normal, not frozen anymore, but with some restriction, a very little bit. The scars on my chest are looser and the skin feels softer too. The bad darts on a cheap blouse seem to be smoothing out. My left scar, the un-radiated one is still quite pink and I look forwrd to it turning skin colored and fading away, though I bet that will take months too.

Diagnosed January 10, May 16 was my last chemo. June 21 is my one year anniversary from surgery. My last radiation was August 25. Frozen Shoulder identified in late December, and now I am starting to feel normal again. I have begun to exercise, I walk, lift weights, I begin to feel good again.

These last few months have been a time a re-emergence. I keep sticking my head out and back in again. I want things to settle down and stabilize.

natL12 · May 2012

Thanks for the tip about cimeostrips. I still have scarring from open heart surgery, and had no idea about things to aid this. (Haven't had my mastectomy yet. Next week it happens.)

geocachelinda · June 2012

I am just over one year post mastectomy and my scar is horrible. It is very puckered and ends with a big fat lump behind my arm. The whole area is still pretty tight and I work on stretching exercises to help keep it limber. I still do not have the full range of motion on that side.

Scars, how they heal, what helps?

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