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I have some difficulty agreeing totally with the last sentence, as I believe that the way that a person is sewn up may have something to do with whether or not they form keloids. I am attaching a small picture of my scar at 5 days post-op. Note that except for being somewhat swollen and reddish it is a very fine line and is pretty similar to the 18 month post-op picture. I might agree that there are some folks that are more prone to "growing" keloids, but how could one tell who has that propensity? Are there different ways of getting sewn up? If so, does anyone know what they are? I presume they glued my scar closed, but do not know for sure. Perhaps some methods of sewing a person up make one more prone to growing keloids?

Justin's scar looked just like that in the beginning (and he was also glued) but after a while parts of it keloided and others didn't. People also can be stitched, stapled, or steri-strips (either little ones going across or 1 big long strip going down the length). Justin never had stitches or staples, but sometimes when he was steri stripped he had keloid and sometimes he didn't, and sometimes when he was glued he had both too.
 
They say the darker your skin, the more prone you are to keloids.
 
Have you talked to a dermatologist? I wonder if laser treatments would help reduce the scar without making it worse? I still have itching at the bottom of my scar, it's a little keloid but not nearly as much as yours.

I think I read a post from Halleyg, she had laser treatments for hers.
 
I call my skin color fish belly white. Why didn't my Anglo/Irish/Scottish ancestors at least have the possibility of getting a tan? My "tan" is a normal person's winter color! For the most part my scar is a thin white line.
 
Hate to ruin the prevailing theory,but I'm light skinned and was 'glued'
and one section on the top(of course!) is a little bumpy. I haven't done
anything about it since it really isn't that bad,but it is raised. I also have
seen those with med- dark skin(like Amer.Ind color) have an absolutely
flat thin line. My guess is differing body chemistry,immune process,etc.
Personally I worry more about internal scarring.

BTW-I must throw in that there are some herbs that one can take that is
supposed to decrease scar tissue,I think Gotu Kola is one,but you take it
internally. Calendula,and Cayenne(!)can be made into an external cream
that is supposed to help prevent scarring. Truthfully most herbs have little
effect-except for the Gotu Kola,its good if you take it while you are healing.

Lisa-"Fish belly white":) ..I'm not quite that light
 
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One of my buddies at work (ten years older than I) has no scar at all from a 5-barrel CABG. I have a disgusting, numb, awful looking keloid, and am firmly convinced that they had some jackass with no training sew me up after my CABG 14 years ago. Some people scar, some people don't. It's not necessarily the sewer-upper's fault (the surgeon does NOT sew you up!), but it'd be nice if these guys had some training on how to do the least damage. I'm still numb, and will never bare my chest again, except to shock my students into getting their cholesterol tested!

I'm now hoping that the guy who sews me up after my AVR will have a better idea of what he's doing--or at least care that a 60 year-old broad might want to be able to show some cleavage. I don't, but I've got a young husband and want to keep him:rolleyes:
 
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One of my buddies at work (ten years older than I) has no scar at all from a 5-barrel CABG. I have a disgusting, numb, awful looking keloid, and am firmly convinced that they had some jackass with no training sew me up after my CABG 14 years ago. Some people scar, some people don't. It's not necessarily the sewer-upper's fault (the surgeon does NOT sew you up!), but it'd be nice if these guys had some training on how to do the least damage. I'm still numb, and will never bare my chest again, except to shock my students into getting their cholesterol tested!

I'm now hoping that the guy who sews me up after my AVR will have a better idea of what he's doing--or at least care that a 60 year-old broad might want to be able to show some cleavage. I don't, but I've got a young husband and want to keep him:rolleyes:

Justin had alot of keloidy spots after his 3rd OHS and when he was having his preop testing for #4 the fellow (a female) asked him if he would like a scar revision since they were opening him, before they closed him they cut away the older scar, so he started with a new fresh scar. His last surgery(not that one) he was closed by a plastic surgeon and still has keloid sections, so it definately isn't the closers fault. (BTW he is a Blue eyed Blond who doesn't get real tan, but then again he was opened alot)
 
Thanks, Lyn. This is one of the things I plan to ask the surgeon. I've got keloids from the sternum incision, the drainage holes, and the paths down my inner thighs where they went hunting for a vein to use in the bypass. They finally got one from my left ankle, and that's the only place that didn't scar. I really don't mind, actually--since OwlSpouse reminds me that because of those scars I'm still with him. But if they can cut out the nasty bits when they re-crack me, it'd just be mildly amusing.
 
BigOwl - My surgeon definitely sewed me up. That's one of the reasons I was happy not being at the Texas Heart Institute - same guy start to finish. You're right that residents often sew you up at the larger teaching hospitals and they don't always know what they're doing. But some people are just prone to keloids. I knew a girls who had huge keloids on her ears (about the size of a cherry tomato) just from a single piercing on each one.
 
Lisa: I guess I really only have experience with big teaching hospitals (Baylor and Penn), and the stories I've heard from med students over the years make me think that I probably did a better job sewing frogs back up after dissecting them in bio class (ok; I was a weird kid--I treated them like autopsies). But it's encouraging to hear that at least some surgeons do their own stitch-ups.:eek:
 
I worked for a Reconstructive and Plastic Surgeon for a number of years. Since there is pain and itching, and the cortizone treatments didn't work, the insurance should pay. You could have it checked out and Pre-Authorized. That would be reconstructive surgery. Bothersome wearing clothes, sleeping, any other reason you and the surgeon can come up with.
 

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