Home remedies for scars

A scar is the pinkish or brown patch of skin that grows in the place where you once had a wound or sore. They are areas of fibrous tissue that replace normal skin tissue after destruction of some of the dermis. A scar is thus the skin's natural way of repairing itself from injury. Most people have scars.

Every skin injury or wound heals with a scar. The appearance of a scar however depends on the type and extent of the wound, as well as how an individual's body heals. Scar tissue is not similar to the tissue that it replaces and is usually of inferior quality. There is no hair growth on the scar tissue, and the skin there becomes less resistant to ultraviolet radiation.

Scarring occur when the deep dermis layer of skin is damaged. The deeper the damage, the worse the scar. Many skin scars are pale and leave a trace of the original injury that caused them. The time that a scar takes to form may range from a few days to, in some serious and rare cases, several years. Various treatments can speed up the process in serious cases. To repair the damage, the body has to lay down new collagen tissues As the body cannot re-build the tissue exactly as it was, the scar tissue will have a different texture and quality than the surrounding normal tissue. An injury does not become a scar until the wound has completely healed.

Many factors affect the severity of scar formation, such as size and depth of the wound, location of the injury on the body, blood supply to the area, age of the person, thickness, type and colour of the person's skin, direction of the scar. Once a scar forms, it is permanent. However, it may be made less visible or displaced surgically.