After gastric sleeve surgery, patients are excited to see their new body. While it takes time to lose weight after their procedure, there is another issue that people often find themselves waiting on: for their scars to fade.
Scars from gastric sleeve surgery are minimal. However, that doesn’t mean that you won’t want to work on helping them fade as fast as possible. Here are the facts you need to know about eliminating sleeve gastrectomy scars.
What Are Gastric Sleeve Scars Like?
This depends on the technique used. For example, you can receive a single-incision sleeve gastrectomy. In this case, you have a single scar that is hidden in the navel. With this approach, most patients don’t even worry about fading the scar since people cannot see it.
In most cases, three to five small incisions are made. These are usually less than an inch in length, which means they are still very difficult to see. For most people, once these are fully healed, they are just slightly lighter than the surrounding skin.
Minimizing or Eliminating Scars
After gastric sleeve in Mexico, your incisions will likely heal very well and become pretty much invisible. Still, that doesn’t mean that you just need to accept however they end up healing; there are things you can do to encourage them to blend in with your skin. Just keep in mind that, to a degree, how scars heal is genetic.
Some options to consider include:
- Massaging the scar tissue once you are healed enough that this is safe to do.
- Prevent your scars from being exposed to UV rays for at least six months.
- Wearing sunscreen on your scars when they are exposed to the sun.
- Rubbing vitamin E oil into the tissue.
- Putting aloe vera gel on the scars.
- Using specialized scar creams meant to help them fade.
If you’re considering weight loss surgery in Tijuana, Mexico, it’s important to know that gastric sleeves have a smaller incision than most other procedures. This means scarring from the procedure will be less visible and can heal more easily. However, this doesn’t mean you’ll love those little marks. Luckily, there is plenty you can do to fade them.
Don’t let your scars keep you from living life to its fullest! To learn more about how this form of bariatric surgery could help you achieve your goals for better health and wellness, contact us today.