Tummy tuck incision question

 I have a consult with a PS on Wednesday.  Not only do I have extra skin on my stomach, I had a three level lumbar fusion in November and they had to go in through the front to remove and replace my damaged discs.  The scar from that surgery extends from the center of my pubic bone up to the bottom of my left ribcage.  More than wanting a tummy tuck, the main reason I am going to see the PS is because the scar has keloided, is strangely tight -- I can't cough or sneeze without terrible pain - and has several puckers in it.  It is just horribly ugly and painful.  Now, I know that my spine surgeon was no skilled plastic surgeon, but if I have the skin removed and have a new scar, what are the chances that I'll end up with a keloided painful scar again?  Has anyone had problems with this?  The scars on my back did not keloid.  I've had several other surgeries and don't have huge, angry, bubbly scars like this one.  Not sure what to do.

Linda

Hey there. I have keloid issues too. The skin on your neck, and around your rib cage keloids the worst. My gastric bypass scar keloided. If you look in my "scars" album, you can see the transition it made from being about 5-6" in length after surgery to being a tight, thick and puckered 3- 3 1/2" in length at about 1 year. If you look in my pre-op pics in the "tummy tuck" album (password: "flattummy"), you can see what it looked like the night before surgery.

My surgeon said the scar was so tight that he had to completely cut the keloid out, and when he did, the scar opened back up to the original 5-6" like a zipper. I'm not sure how it's going to reheal, but as soon as the sterie strips come off, I'm going to put maderma on it several times a day and wear silicone strips to keep it nice and thin.

If you're worried about the actual tummy tuck incision keloiding, I had the same concern. My surgeon said that the skin in that area doesn't keloid as much as other parts of the body. So far, so good for me... but just like with the GB scar, as soon as the sterie strips come off, I'm going to use maderma and silicone strips as long as I can to keep the scars nice and thin.

 I went to see my surgeon today for my 2 week post-op appt. He's really happy with the way everything turned out, but he is beginning to get worried that my GB scar is going to try to keloid again. He said there's nothing you can really do about them, but try to prevent them. He gave me a website to order some silicone patches that he says work really well for preventing keloids. They're kind of expensive, but each piece lasts about 6 weeks.

The website is www.silon.com, and you go under "products" and click on "scar management", and they have all their products there.