Why Do I Scar So Easily?
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No 'body' makes it through life without some sort of scaring to document the years. However, you may find yourself emotionally and physically affected by unsightly scars. You may even wonder 'why do I scar so easily'?
Let's look at how collagen serves your body in the healing process and how to lessen the visibility of scars.
Types Of Wounds That Product Scars
As we mentioned, it's difficult to go through life and not get at least a scar or two. A scar is the end result of a wound healing.
Here are the general ways you might have a wound and eventually be left with a scar:
Injury
Includes cuts, scrapes, shaving cuts, pimples, burns, complications from diabetes, excessive dry skin, bug bites bed sores.
Surgery
Including plastic surgery, accident or injury surgery, C-section.
Stretch Marks
Stretch marks are caused at the dermis level of the skin as a result of rapid growth or rapid weight changes.
Acne
The leftover effects of acne often results in deep-pocket or wavelike scarring.
Tattoos
According to Authoritytattoo.com, scarring typically happens when the artist presses the tattoo needles into deeper levels of skin, which is sensitive and delicate.
Piercings
After a piercing, the healing process may produce hypertrophic or keloid scars.
Why Do I Scar?
To answer the question as to why you scar, let's do a little biology lesson on the anatomy of the skin.
The skin is made up of three layers:
- Epidermis: the outermost layer of the skin.
- Dermis: under the epidermis, contains tough connective tissue; collagen is found in the dermis.
- Hypodermis: deepest layer, made of fat and connective tissue.
Your skin's job is to keep out billions of harmful bacteria that you come into contact with all day, every day. When you experience some sort of trauma to any layer of the skin, the body's processes rush in to seal up the gap as quickly as possible.
Right after the injury occurs, extra collagen protein rushes in to make the new skin stronger than it was before. The end result of the healing is called a scar.
For the most part, all wound healing follows a predictable path. Here are the three steps your body goes through when healing a wound:
Types Of Scars
There are four types of scars you can experience during your life:
- Cicatrix: The most common type of scar. Starts off slightly raised, pink to reddish in color, may be itchy or painful. As collagen rushes in to start healing, over time, the scar will flatten and change color--often back to the same color as your skin.
- Keloid: Most commonly found among people with darker skin color. These scars form as a result of excessive collagen accumulation collagen accumulation and go beyond the original injury. Over time, a keloid scar may hamper movement.
- Contracture: Often a result of a burn injury, these scars cause the skin to tighten. Contracture scars may impair your ability to move and can affect muscles and nerves.
- Hypertrophic: Similar to keloids, they don't extend beyond the injury. They are raised and red in color.
Why You Might Scar Easily
Whether you feel like you scar easily or not, there are some things to know that will help your body efficiently and effectively heal from any wound.
First, heredity indicates whether one person scars more easily than another. For example, you may have inherited narrower blood vessels than someone else.
Second, you may have a nutrient deficiency--more specifically, vitamins, minerals and protein that strengthen your immune system and collagen rebuilding process. For example, vitamin C and zinc are required to make new collagen.
Third, there are medications and supplements like aspirin and blood thinners, or fish oil, ginkgo or steroids that may hamper your body's healing system.
Fourth, keep yourself well hydrated! Water will help your skin stay flexible and healthy (and will help keep deep wrinkles and fine lines from expanding).
Alternatively, avoid dehydrating activities like drinking a lot of caffeine and alcohol. Also, stop smoking to avoid vulnerability of the skin.
Fifth, you may have chronic internal inflammation which means the body has to fight the wound and inflammation at the same time. This means internal healing energy is split.
To lessen the visibility of scars, improve your overall diet and consume foods that contain clean protein, vitamin C, vitamin A and zinc to boost your body’s collagen production and wound-healing ability.
How To Minimize Scarring
In addition to why you might scar easily described above, once an injury has been suffered, here are some things to consider to help heal.
- Keep Clean: Go the extra mile to keep the wound clean with soap and water (an anti-bacterial cream or gel is not needed if you keep the wound clean).
- Keep Moist: Use petroleum jelly to keep the wound moist. It will help keep the wound from scabbing too early or deeply. It will also keep it from itching.
- Keep Covered: Use a bandage to keep the wound covered. For larger wounds, you may want to use hydrogel or silicone gel sheets. Change covering daily.
- Stitches: Follow your physician's instructions on how best to take care of stitches.
- Sunscreen: Apply sunscreen after the bandage is removed.
Last but not least, see your doctor promptly if the wound is highly painful, not healing during a reasonable period of time or it may be infected.
FINAL VERDICT
We can expect to experience scars from injuries, surgery, illness, drastic changes in skin, tattoos and piercing and other common life events.
When a trauma to the skin occurs, collagen protein rushes to the site to help create a new layer of skin and keep out bacteria.
You may find you scar easily and it could be because of one or more of these reasons: hereditary conditions, a diet that lacks in clean protein and vital vitamins and minerals, certain medications, lack of hydration or have chronic internal inflammation.
Also, you'll want to avoid skin-destructive activities like smoking or drinking alcohol.
Furthermore, to keep scarring to a minimum, keep the wound squeaky clean, use a bandage that is changed daily, keep petroleum jelly on it to keep it moist and use sunscreen/sun covering during and after the wound is healed.