The impact of scarring and the disfigurement from it has a tremendous emotional impact on a person. It can be even greater for children who may lack the cognitive and language skills to communicate there distress. Males of all ages are often ingrained socially not to communicate distress over scarring even if it is impacting them in a negative way. Many people undergo unnecessary deformity because either they or their families have failed to deal with their concern over the effects of facial scarring or have failed to seek advice on what can be done to improve the appearance of facial scars.

Advancement in today’s cosmetic surgery provides more options. The treatment of facial scarring can be the most gratifying thing that a cosmetic surgeon does. Unlike other cosmetic procedures, incisions for revision cannot be hidden. The location of the scar determines the incision but it is the techniques in restructuring the scar that can greatly reduce its appearance and advance a patients self-image and emotional wellbeing.

Children and young adults are the disproportionately the victims of injury. Their skin tends to heal with more scarring because they heal more rapidly. Although these scars tend to fade with time, it still makes the treatment program more difficult. Furthermore, it makes it much more important to wait before initiating treatment since a scar that looks poor a month or so after injury may continue to greatly improve in appearance for many months. Ultimately, it may be so unnoticeable as to not require treatment.

Although the repair carried out at the time of injury does influence the amount of scarring that exists after healing, even the most careful repair may not provide a totally acceptable result. When treating the initial injury, one is never sure how tissues will heal. Lost tissue may have to be replaced with grafts. Wounds may have to be closed under tension. These are only some of the factors that tend to promote increased scarring.