Preventing Scars from Cuts and Scrapes

Living any sort of active life means that, at some point, we are all going to get a cut or skin a knee and even scrape a cheek. While many abrasions can scab over and heal up and leave no trace, there are any number of chances for them to instead leave behind permanent scarring. Luckily, there are some measure you can take to prevent the appearance of unwanted scars.

How Does Scarring Happen?

First of all, it is important to know that scar formation is a very natural part of your wound healing – collagen production ramps up to heal the injury quickly and, as such, that skin does not go through the normal skin production, and so is missing somethings that cause it to look a little different as a result.

A scar’s appearance is determined by factors such as the size of the wound, depth, the amount of blood that gets there, skin thickness and more.

Cleanliness Is Godliness

Any injury that results in broken skin should be kept clean and free of debris. The last thing you want is a foreign body exacerbating the injury or bacteria causing an infection.

Keep It Hydrated

While healing – Lock in moisture rather than allowing your skin to dry out. A bit of petroleum jelly on the wound topped with a non-adhesive bandage will go a long way to healing with minimal visibility.

After healing – You will still want to keep the new skin moisturized and supple, so using an all-natural moisturizing lotion like Jericho’s Body Lotion Sheer Delicacyis an important step in the process.

Massage

Keeping blood flow moving can be a big deal. Massaging the area daily, especially with some vitamin E infused lotion (like this Body Butter Sheer Embrace by Jericho) can potentially reduce scar visibility.

Hide From the Sun

Just as sunlight tans regular skin, it can especially cause discoloring in scar tissue and healing wounds.

All Natural, Baby

Outside of a little petroleum jelly or some vitamin-infused lotion, you really will want to let the wound heal in its natural way. Hydrogen peroxide, for example, will just continue irritation. Don’t pick at the scabs will only serve to slow the process down and increase the chance of scarring.