Surgeon and my scar...

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M

mrichardson

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 2, 2016
Messages
64
Location
Near Dallas, TX
Ok, back in 1978 when I was 22 months old, I had a surgery to correct pulmonic stenosis. Now that I'm having the valve replaced, I my meeting with the surgeon. I have a TON of faith in her, based on everything I've read. Anyway, during the consult, she asked if she could see my scar. So I showed it to her, and she said, "I can make that look better".

I'm wondering how she can make it look better. Merely curious. I'm guessing what she's going to do is trim away some of the old scar tissue, and pull my skin closer together when I'm stitched back up.
 
My scar, only 7 weeks post surgery, already look better than the one I had before. So your surgeon is saying something that I can relate too ! I liked my old rough scar, I could brag about it with my buddies haha.
 
They can do wonders, these days. I'm 5 years out from my only valve surgery, and you really cannot see my scar unless you look very closely for it. My surgeon didn't use sutures or staples to close. He used the surgical equivalent of super-glue. Also, I'm lucky enough that most of my scars fade to match my skin tone, so they hide very well.

The surgeons can, if they choose, make scars very minor for most patients. The unlucky ones are the ones whose scars become keloid - their scars become very pronounced and can easily be seen.
 
My first and second OHS scars were interlaced and didn't heal very well. This last surgery I requested that they remove the old scars and try and make this one "pretty". So far so good. I've got a few small bumps that I hope smooth out, I think it's the internal sutures causing them. They were thoughtful and placed my chest tubes where the old ones were so that eliminated more scars. Now if only they hadn't used my upper right chest to place me on bipass and gave me a new three inch scar that resembles my pacemaker scar on the left side. But it is what it is at least I'm here to complain about is. :)
 
Warrick;n864119 said:
mine isn't even straight, it has a curve in the top third heading left... they must have been distracted :)
Click to expand...

While mine isn't curved, it does go on a slight angle. When I discussed this with a member of my surgical team, they said that they did that on purpose. This way, I can leave the top button (or two) of my shirt unbuttoned without showing my scar. The scar, at that height, is off-center and is concealed by clothing.

Now, if I hadn't needed my pacemaker, it would be really difficult to see that I had OHS. Since I'm a skinny old gym rat, my pacemaker looks like someone left a stack of coins under my skin. But at least, as rnff2 so eloquently said, at least I'm here to complain about it.
 
Warrick;n864119 said:
mine isn't even straight, it has a curve in the top third heading left... they must have been distracted :)
Click to expand...

I find it rather cool haha. Since my first surgery when I was 9, I was always proud of my scar and I have been doing lot of sports and outdoor activities so I have always found fun the attention you get from people looking at you. Most of the time I was bullshitting, saying I had a knife fight or a tree did hit me when I was logging etc... I have had some good fun with it.
 
Haha, I used to to the same thing! I would tell people I got shot or stabbed or some variation of a brutal situation. It always made me laugh, but the reality is that the truth is actually a lot more interesting. When I was younger, I used to get a lot of looks and "Why does your chest look like that?". This used to bother me in my younger days, but now I look at it as a battle scar and feel that it gives me a trophy to be proud of rather than something to cover up.
We have been through one of the scariest surgeries a person can go through (and for some of us more than once or twice) and we should present our scars as a sign of our resilience and our tenacity. They are all beautiful-whether they are curved, slanted, red, wide, skinny, or just different. As Rnff2 said, "at least we are here to complain about them"--Much better than the alternative!!
 
Haha, I used to to the same thing! I would tell people I got shot or stabbed or some variation of a brutal situation. It always made me laugh, but the reality is that the truth is actually a lot more interesting. When I was younger, I used to get a lot of looks and "Why does your chest look like that?". This used to bother me in my younger days, but now I look at it as a battle scar and feel that it gives me a trophy to be proud of rather than something to cover up.
We have been through one of the scariest surgeries a person can go through (and for some of us more than once or twice) and we should present our scars as a sign of our resilience and our tenacity. They are all beautiful-whether they are curved, slanted, red, wide, skinny, or just different. As Rnff2 said, "at least we are here to complain about them"--Much better than the alternative!!
 
AKAFrench;n864126 said:
but now I look at it as a battle scar and feel that it gives me a trophy to be proud of rather than something to cover up.
We have been through one of the scariest surgeries a person can go through (and for some of us more than once or twice) and we should present our scars as a sign of our resilience and our tenacity. They are all beautiful-whether they are curved, slanted, red, wide, skinny, or just different. As Rnff2 said, "at least we are here to complain about them"--Much better than the alternative!!
Click to expand...

very well said haha
 
I just tell people, "You should see the other guy."

I have never scarred well. My first, I blamed on post op weight gain (really going from being a skinny teenager to an adult weight). But my second, I actually lost a lot of weight post op and it still got wide. They also had to add the shoulder scar just below the right clavicle for the heart/lung machine access since they were throwing my aorta away. Between those, plus the drain tube scars, plus the multiple access points to remove gallbladder and appendix, and I'm a mess.

I suing for lost income because I lost the motivation to pursue a career as a model due to scarring. They can't prove I wouldn't have been dedicated to fitness and looked much better if not for the scarring.
 
Every time I have had to spend the night in the hospital I have a major scar to show for it. From 3 OHS, pacemaker, c-section and pyloric stenosis. 6 hospital stays 6 scars...I'm a mess, thank goodness I choose nursing and not modeling for my career. :)
 
This reminds me of how I used to handle the scar "question" at the gym. I simply explained my scars this way:

1. The big scar down my sternum is from a knife fight that I almost lost.
2. The surgical drain scars are from small-arms fire when I was in the military.
3. The pacemaker is just a chunk of shrapnel left over from the military.
4. The two hernia scars are just left-overs from some long-forgotten bar fights.
5. I don't even mention all the smaller scars on my hands and arms (there must be a dozen or more of them).

Funny how people stopped bothering me and gave me lots of room after that. I'm not big and intimidating, just small and gnarly.
 
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