What Is Good to Put on Burn Scars?

More than one million burn injuries occur every year in the United States. Most are minor with little or no scarring. But in the case of more serious burns, scars are an unavoidable and an essential step in the healing process. These extensive and possibly disfiguring scars will remain unless they are treated. If there is any doubt about the seriousness of a burn injury, a physician should be seen as soon as possible to classify the severity and determine an appropriate treatment.

Classification of Burns and Scars

• Burns are classified according to their depth and size, from the most minor first-degree burn and continuing through second-, third- and the most serious fourth-degree. Size is the percentage of total body surface area, or TBSA, involved.
  Superficial first- and second-degree burns are painful but are considered minor and rarely produce scars.
  Burns that are painless or only cause pain with pressure are third- or fourth-degree and extremely serious. Lack of pain indicates deep injury with damage to or destruction of pain-causing nerves. It is not unusual for hair follicles to be destroyed, as well, so that hair will not regrow in burned areas of the head and face. Fourth-degree burns will not heal without medical treatment, and the three types of scars-contractures, hypertrophics and keloids-are severe and debilitating without therapy.

Burn Scar Treatments

• The healed skin area of a second-degree burn may have lighter pigment than the surrounding area. Makeup or self-tanning lotions should be all that is needed to camouflage and blend with natural skin tone.
  According to the Burn Recovery Center, deeper burns will likely destroy the natural skin-lubricating sebaceous glands and make it necessary to regularly use lotions to prevent skin from becoming too dry. Scarred skin is 20 percent weaker than undamaged skin, which may require less-constrictive clothing.
  Sensitivity of scarred skin will make the seasons more noticeable. Most burn victims' scars are more sensitive to cold temperatures than normal skin, more prone to sunburn and allergic to certain sunscreens and other skin products. Experimentation with all skin-care products is advisable, and silicone-based are most effective among scar-treatment products. The Scar Treatment Center offers consumer advice ratings, from excellent to fair, for a variety of cream, lotion and silicone sheeting products.
  Silicone sheeting, in addition to physical therapy, may be prescribed for more extensive scar treatment and has been used since the early 1980s to help improve color, reduce the size and increase elasticity of the most serious hypertrophic and keloid scars from third- and fourth-degree burns.

Improved Technology

• Currently, there are no "cures" for severe scarring from burns, but aggressive treatments can reduce appearance and psychological affects. Laser technology is making great strides in minimizing the most disfiguring scars.