Video Transcript

Hi, this is Dr. Debra Jaliman, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City and author of the book "Skin Rules: Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist" here to talk about treating a scar in light skin. the most important thing about treating a scar is first of all you don't want to irritate it so don't use abrasive sponges and certainly use a mild cleanser. That means a non-sudsing cleanser that doesn't strip the skin of its essential oils. The next thing is you want to make certain that right after you have the scar on your skin that you wear a broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30, find a sunscreen that agrees with your skin type. For example, if you are oily you can use a powdered sunscreen or if you are dry you can use a moisturizing sunscreen, even a sunscreen that has a moisturizer in it. But it's important to wear a sunscreen every single day whether it's a sunny day, a cloudy day or even if you are indoors sitting by a window because the UVA light goes through the window glass. The reason it's important to wear a sunscreen with a scar is the sun can accentuate a scar, the sun can make the scar redder, it can also pigment the scar and make the scar much worse. Another thing you can do is if you have a scar you can go to the drugstore and get a scar bandage. These are called silicone scar bandages. They look like this and when you get them, all you need to do is peel off the back and then they stick. They're very sticky on one side. You cut the bandage to the exact size of your scar and place it on your scar. Let's say you use your scar bandage for a few months and you don't see much of a change and you want to see something more. One thing you can do is you can go to a board-certified dermatologist and we have other things we can do. For example we can laser the scar and it could take a few laser treatments. We can use microderm abrasion with laser. We can also inject the scar with Hydrocortisone to thin out the scar. We can also use special tape that's impregnated with Hydrocortisone to thin out the scar. So there are many treatment choices we can do. The other thing is sometimes the scar is so bad that it requires cutting out the scar and starting all over again. So don't despair if you have a bad scar. There are many treatment options. Thanks for watching.