Monthly Archives: March 2013

Ethnicity and Scarring

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Skin Color and Scarring

Increasingly in pluralistic social cultures in the western societies people’s outward appearance may not be the best indicator of the inherited ethnicity. Ethnicity plays a significant part of how skin heals from injury or after surgery.

According to a national report in treating skin of color (SOC), expert physicians necessarily should consider not only patients’ desires and skin color. Additionally, and of prime importance is also the consideration of the patient’s ethnicity and history of scarring, post-inflammatory response, hyperpigmentation (PIH) and tanning.

Dr. Elliot Battle is CEO and President of Cultural Dermatology and Laser Center, Washington, and clinical instructor of dermatology, Howard University College of Medicine. He emphasizes that skin color and ethnicity are separate factors. He comments that out of 1,000 people with the identical skin color, “We would most likely have 1,000 different combinations of African, Caucasian, Latin, Spanish, Indian and Asian ethnicities,” he continues, adding that along with skin color, “Those combinations of ethnicities determine how one’s skin reacts to lasers and skin products.”

Understanding this it is important that your dermatologist to cultivate the habit of asking about a patient’s ancestral history — the ethnicity of their parents and grandparents. “We see many patients who might appear to be Caucasian, but one of their parents or grandparents might be a person of color,” he says. “The future of skin treatments will add ethnicity to the criteria for choosing parameters.

When concerned about scarring for any type be certain that your chosen physician has a good understanding of ethnicity and how it effects scarring.

Healing the Scars of War Victims

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No single group deals with more debilitating scarring then victims of war; both military and civilians. The decade of wars heralding in the 21st Century has left millions of people suffering from life changing injures. Along with the emotional and tragic psychological scars are the physical scars as a reminder. There are organizations globally seeking to help people who unfortunately suffering from the life lone effects of debilitating human conflict. Share this resource with any person who can benefit.

Thanks the MEDSCAR team.

AFIRM
The Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) is a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary network working to develop advanced treatment options for our severely wounded servicemen and women. They develop advanced treatment for severely wounded servicemen and women. This organization is designed to speed the delivery of regenerative medicine therapies to assist the most injured service members. The five major research programs include Burn Repair, Compartment Syndrome Repair, craniofacial Reconstruction, Limb and Digit Salvage, and Scarless Wound Healing.

Air Force Wounded Warrior
The Air Force Wounded Warrior ensures great care, services, and assistance before and after wounded warriors separate or retire. They have a strong emphasis on ensuring wounded airmen individualized guidance and support to help them transition out of the Air Force and back to civilian life. The Air Force Wounded Warrior, working closely with the Secretary of Defense programs, will keep these men and women on active duty.

Iraq Star, Inc.
Iraq Star is a recently founded non-profit organization. It offers surgery for disfigured veterans. Iraq Star recruits plastic surgeons across the country to provide free cosmetic surgery for soldiers who want to fix their deformities including scars.

Scars To Freedom
Scars to Freedom Foundation, provides FREE scar revision to all Military Veterans. This is our way of thanking them for their sacrifice and service for our Country.

Reduced Scalp Scarring from Hair Transplant Surgery

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FUE hair restoration can reduce scars

Modern hair transplant is resolving hair loss issues for many people. However the most common form of Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT) surgery ‘Strip Method’ procedure leaves a linear scar that is just not acceptable. This lends to the increasing popularity of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) hair restoration surgeries.

Healing of FUE Scars

FUE varies from the other FUT procedure by the method of extracting, or “harvesting,” donor hair. An FUE procedure involves the use of an instrument is to make a small, circular incision in the skin around a follicular unit, separating it from the surrounding tissue. The unit is then extracted (pulled) directly from the scalp, leaving a small wound.

This process is repeated until the hair transplant surgeon has harvested enough follicular units for the planned hair restoration. This nature of this process means it takes o time to complete the procedure. This of course varies under the number of grafts being extracted. The donor wounds are approximately 1-mm in size and in most cases heal within a week to ten days.
Patients can be concerned about the punctuate scars from FUE but in most cases they become undetectable in a short period of time.

Scars from FUE vary do to:
1. The size of the punch (ranges of punch sizes are from 0.8-1.5mm)
2. The density of the donor hair area; the thicker the hair the less visible the scars
3. The inverse is true; the thinner the donor hair the more visible the scare
4. The individual patients healing

Hypopigmentation

Generally, the donor area appears to heal without visible scarring. In some instances a patient can experience loss of color in the donor extraction wounds. These tiny spaces that lack the same degree of scalp colorization than the surrounding donor area. This is more apparent if the patient has darker skin. A hair transplant surgeon can test with a few test extractions prior to committing to a full surgery.

Adult Acne Scar Revision

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Acne Scar Revision

Acne is most often associated with the angst and turbulent adolescence; at least that is the common perception. In the United States alone the American Academy of Dermatology reports that 40 to 50 million peoples suffer from acne to a level of requiring medical treatment. The numbers appear to be growing and the reason for this unclear.

In a study of 1,013 people, 15% of women and 7% of men over 50 reported having acne. The negative effects on self image are as strong in adults as in teens. Often adults use over the counter treatment that aggravate the condition even further.

WATCH VIDEO of One Acne Scar Revision Technique Below


Women appear to have increased risk


A survey from the University of Alabama was published a study in 2008; significant numbers on women suffering from acne was reported. This study found that acne affects more than 50% of women between the ages of 20-29 and more than 25% between the ages of 40-49. A Massachusetts General Hospital research survey in 2011 reported similar numbers though slightly lower than the University of Alabama report. The hospital study revealed that 45% of women 20-29 and 12% of women 41-50 had acne.

Treatments


Long term acne can leave substantial levels of scarring that require medical intervention to improve the appearance of the skin to enhance the well being and safe image of patients. Myriad treatments from a range of chemical peels, to non-ablative and ablative lasers, to injections, all the way up to surgical techniques. Sometimes the best treatment for may include a combination of these modern procedures. As in other scar revision the goal is to make the scarring less noticeable.