Vitamin E on incision area?

[Karen40]

How soon after the surgery did you begin using vitamin E oil on the incision area? Is this something that is generally recommended?

My daughter is 1 month post op and all the steri strips have now fallen off but we were not instructed to use anything on the area. We have our 6 week post up check in 2 weeks so I'm planning to ask our surgeon about it. His wife is a dermatologist so I'd imagine he probably would have some knowledge about it...

Thank you.

Karen (mom to Lena who was fused T4 to L4 on Dec 5, 2007)

[vndy]

Karen,

I'm about a week ahead of your daughter in my recovery, and started using Mederma yesterday. I asked my dermatologist prior to surgery about the best way to make the scar heal as well as possible, and she recommended a "a product like Mederma, or anything with silicon in it." The only thing with Mederma is it is supposed to be applied 3-4 times a day, and my boyfriend is really only around enough to put it on me once (MAYBE twice) a day. I just tried to do it myself, which was challenging and I'm now a bit sore. Hopefully you'll be able to do that for her, though. When I asked my surgeon about it at my post-op (12/18) he didn't seem to care as long as the scar had healed.

I'll be interested to know what you learn from your surgeon though! Best of luck!

[MATJESNIC]

Karen,

At our 2-month post-op we asked the surgeon and he said Vitamin E. I bought pure vitamin E oil and used it once so far. I forgot to ask how often. So does anyone know if I should do this once a day?

[Carmell]

I've used Vitamin E gel for Braydon's scars (not his VEPTR scars). It isn't as oily or as messy as the oil, but that's just a preference. We used the gel once a day and it helped loosen tight scars on his foot, leg and back. My own experience with orthopedic surgery and tight scars (elbow) was that any lotion will work. Anything to soften the scar tissue. Scar tissue normally doesn't have much moisture in it. Anything to soften and moisturize helps. Again, its always best to ask the doc before trying anything.