Best Scar Cream Buyers Guide 2020

Humans scar, it’s a fact of life.  Break the surface of your skin and the body’s natural response is to build up scar tissue to help heal and protect that spot.  It’s your body’s way of caring for you.  But, as humans, we are also keenly aware of our appearance…looking good is important…and so we want ways to remove those scars or at least reduce them to the point where they are unnoticeable.  The best scar removal cream that you’ll find can help with this effort and, when used consistently over time, can reduce the appearance of your scars drastically. We’ll review some of these items later but first, lets discuss what makes up a scar.

Aside from being one of the best ever Red Hot Chili Pepper songs, scar tissue is simply a build up of tissue around a wound.  This tissue is called collagen (it’s actually a protein but we can skip the details here) and consists of tough, fibrous tissues whose purpose is to reconnect the broken skin and protect it so it can not only heal but be tougher later.  A scab normally forms over that broken skin and when healing is complete, the scab falls off…sometimes there will be a scar, sometimes there won’t.

TYPES OF SCARS

Scars form when the healing of the wound is complete and when formed, are usually flat and pale in appearance. For those with sensitive skin, scarring can be more pronounced and also more difficult to treat. The collagen from the healing process creates a different appearance from the surrounding skin.  There are a couple of ways the scar tissue may not blending in well with the surrounding tissue

Hypertrophic scars result when the body creates too much Collagen and the resulting scar is noticeably raised from the surrounding tissue

Keloid are much like hypertrophic scars but often continue to grow even after the would is done healing.  These scars can cause pain, itching and can even interfere with movement.

Atrophic scars are sunken or pitted and result when the underlying muscle or fat disappear.  Many surgical scars fall into this category, as do acne scars.

Stretch mark scars result when the underlying tissue when the skin is stretched quickly over a short period of time.  Pregnancy is probably the most commonly known cause of stretch mark scars. These can also appear over joints after a surgery, where the skin is stretched tighter than normal and joint bends repeatedly, causing the skin to stretch and scar.

Burns also create scarring and for the most part the process is the same as for the above in that collagen forms the basis of the scar tissue.  Many burn scars are contracture scars where the skin is stretched tight over the wound and can be painful.

Each of the above types of scars can be treated to diminish the appearance but not all scars can be removed or made entirely invisible.

Scars are not just a concern for plastic surgery patients, but for just about anybody else as well.  Depending on the success of your plastic surgery procedure and how closely you follow the prescribed post procedure directions, you scars can diminish greatly over time. The best scar removal cream will address not only plastic surgery related scars, but any scars you have.  Proper preparation for your plastic surgery procedure will ensure a smoother process overall and also help ensure minimal scarring occurs.

TREATMENT FOR SCARS

There are a number of ways you can treat scars, including topical treatments such as creams or lotions, filler injections, dermabrasion, silicon gels, and extending to laser correction.  The methods  for scar treatment run the full gamut.  For the purpose of this article, we’ll focus on methods you can use at home to help eliminate or reduce the visibility of your scars.

The best approach to treating scars is to work hard to ensure they don’t become scars in the first place, which means aggressive and consistent treatment during the healing phase of the wound.  With the right approach here, you can prevent the scar from forming in the first place or, if not completely prevent it, you can at least ensure a small or less noticeable scar forms.

SCAR TREATMENT OR SCAR REMOVAL?

There are two general approaches we are concerned with here – Scar Removal and Scar Treatment

Scar Removal involves getting rid of scars, whether they are fresh or old.  There are different considerations depending on the age of the scar, but the intent here is to get rid of them or at least make them less noticeable

Scar Treatment involves addressing new scars and how to treat them so they don’t become old scars.  The best scar treatment cream will prevent later scarring. Think of this as the preventative approach – catching the would-be scar before it has a chance to actually become a life long scar.

SCAR TREATMENTS

Silicon treatments using medical grade silicon have been clinically proven to have the best chance and show the most evidence of working well and are recommended my most plastic surgeon and other medical experts.  20 years of research show that consistent application of silicon over a period of time can reduce the visibility of a scar. The benefit of using treatments with a silicon base is the extremely low risk of any kind of side effect.  In addition to silicon treatments, a wide variety of other approaches are available as shown below.

Silicon sheets are quite popular and steadily receive good reviews from users.  One of the most widely used are the ScarAway brand found via the links below on Amazon:

ScarAway Sheets (Qty 12)

These sheets are made to mimic the natural barrier function of normal skin while at the same time providing hydrating benefits, thereby reducing scar formations and causing existing scars to fade.  These are the silicon sheets that are often recommended by plastic surgeons to address scarring.

ScarAway for C-Section Scars

All of the same information as for the above ScarAway silicon sheets, but sized for larger C-Section or other scars.

Gels, lotions, and creams are used for treatment as well and have found to be extra effective when used in conjunction with other methods. As with most other Plastic Surgery related issues, hyaluronic acid seems to be found in many products and for good reason.  A few of the more popular items are available on Amazon via these links:

Mederma Advanced Scar Gel (for old and new scars)

Mederma is one of the most widely tested and popular scar care brands in the world and their advanced scar treatment gel requires only a single use each day. Mederma offers one of the treatments for old scars.

Bio-Oil Skincare Oil

Hugely popular product that addresses various types of scars to include stretch marks.

#1 selling scar and stretch mark product in 18 countries.  Bio-Oil has received 224 skincare awards.

Health Priority All Natural and Organic Vitamin E Oil

Here’s a product that is also widely popular that contains only natural ingredients including organic jojoba, organic avocado and organic rice bean oils.  Sounds odd, works great.

Mederma PM Intensive Overnight Scar Cream 

Here’s another excellent item for the #1 brand of scar treatment products.  Use this overnight when your body is doing most of it’s healing anyway.

Mederma Stretch Marks Therapy

Yet another offering from Mederma, this one specifically targeted at stretch marks.  This can/should be used during pregnancy, beginning around the second trimester and can be continued after the pregnancy as it is safe for breastfeeding mothers.

Dermabrasion and Microdermabrasion offer a more aggressive treatment and, when done correctly, leaves your skin fresh and beautiful and indicates a long term result of scars being less visible.  Most dermabrasion products target the face only but there are whole body approaches as well

Neutrogena Microdermabrasion System

Targeted directly to help clean pores and to address wrinkles and age spots, this system is one of the popular and highly rated on Amazon.

NeedCrystals Microdermabrasion Crystals

Spa quality skin care providing immediate as well as long term results and works well to lessen the appearance of acne scars

THE BEST SCAR REMOVAL CREAM – OUR RECOMMENDATION

We’ve talked a good bit about this and made some very strong recommendations but the title of this page indicates that we have a preference.  After a lot of research, reading a lot of product descriptions, reading a lot of product reviews, and doing our own testing, we feel the best offering to help reduce the visibility of scars is TCM Scar and acne mark removal gel ointment

The TCM product is safe for all skin types, can be used on the face as well as the entire body and has been shown to be effective at removing or greatly reducing the visibility of acne scars, stretch marks, c-section scars and various other scars.  The recommended approach is to use this daily for up to 60 days – how long a single tube lasts will depend on the size and/or the number of the scars you are treating. We believe this product is the best scar removal cream you’ll find anywhere.