Scarface: Natural Treatments To Fade Scars (contains pictures some may find squeamish)

Say hello to my little friend....

A few weeks back I had some work done to my face. Unintentionally. by the hardwood floor of the OBH. From doing the worm.

Needless to say, when the Pres picked me up that night, he wasn't thrilled to see my chin open, nor the three hour wait in the emergency department. The next morning I went straight into damage control mode, starting with a big sorry to the Pres, and then working out a game plan for my wound.


After weighing up the options (PRO: everyone loves the worm, chicks dig scars CONS: concussions aren't cool, I have to go to work the next day with 3 stitches in my face) I made the decision to treat my chin as naturally as possible and decided to document the progress (I want to say for anyone that finds themselves in a similar situation, but I feel that I might be speaking to a minute group of legends who have split their face open doing the worm) for anyone who has suffered an injury/wound and wants to know the best way to treat it to reduce the chance of scarring.

First and foremost, make sure you follow first aid/and or your doctors orders before commencing any scar treatments and make sure that you are always hygienic to avoid infection.

Week 1 - The Carnage...

During my visit to the lovely staff at Royal Perth Hospital I was treated to a local anaesthetic needle in my chin, 3 stitches, a tetanus shot and a few bags to vomit into. The next few days I pretty much left it to its own devices. Given that it was just under my jaw bone, any time I stretched my chin would start to open. After a few days, once the bleeding had stopped I started using pure lavender essential oil and applied it with fresh cotton tips 3 times a day. Lavender essential oil is antiseptic and assist in healing and preventing infection in the skin.

Week 2 - Scar tissue that I wish you saw, sarcasm mister know it all....

I started to see some good progress on the healing front and was at the stage where my stitches were ready to come out. I work at a school full of nurses, my dad is a medic and my brother and his fiancé are both paramedics, so it was a natural choice to remove my stitches myself. NOT. I strongly do not recommend doing this and if I had my time over I would have waited to see one of the numerous people that could have taken them out for me.

The days following I kept up with lavender oil, but also had read that turmeric (yes, the yellow spice) had long been used to assist with wound healing and was now even being used in the manufacture of some wound dressings. Turmeric has an antibiotic and analgesic effect, but also assists with the formation of new skin cells. I used about a quarter of a teaspoon mixed into a paste with a drop of water and applied at night and then covered. Be careful, this stuff will stain your clothes, towels, sheets etc.

Week 3 - Getting there...

Most people were surprised at how quickly the scar was fading, and with the wound now closed over I started just using organic rosehip oil morning and night to help soften the appearance of the scar and am pretty thrilled with the results of the combination of using the lavender, turmeric and rosehip oil.

So there you have it. Just over three weeks and you can barely see it! In a few months time when the scar has really settled I may look at having some IPL or some needle rolling done, but so far so good.

If you have any suggestions or remedies for scars then I'd love to hear from you! Like me on Facebook
and leave a comment!

xx