The scar is the end point of each and every wound healing. Wound healing is scar healing (cicatrisation) or defect healing, not tissue regeneration. Therefore there is no scarless healing, even not with a Plastic surgeon.

Scars can reach above the skin level (hypertrophic scars) or lies below the skin level (atrophic scars). Scars can have different shapes (linear of flat) and different color compared to the surroundings, i.e. they can be darker or lighter.

Tissue damage not only leads to an externally more or less visible scar (Body Scar) with functional, medical and/or aesthetic impairment, but often also to an internal psychological trauma (Soul Scar).

In today’s society, scars are seen rather negatively. They often represent a mark of an operation or injury – that is, an impairment of the body image.

• Philosophy

“The scar is our business card”: The most important task (safe, painless, planned birth/joint prosthesis/caricac surgery, …) is often quickly forgotten, what remains is a more or less visible scar

• Multidisciplinary Scar Care

If one looks at the multitude of different scar forms and, accordingly, the multitude of possible therapies, it quickly becomes clear that a single discipline alone cannot offer the entire spectrum of modern and comprehensive scar therapy. Plastic Surgery is the central point of contact. Depending on the findings of the initial examination, other specialist  are consulted for individually tailored treatment such as:

• Dermatology (Basic skin care, LASER….)
• Physiotherapy (lymphatic drainage, scar treatment…..)
• Internal medicine (Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, …)
• Make-up artist
• Cosmetology
• Mental health
• Others, …..

All these specialties are working together in the Scar Center Dubai & Muscat and Scar Network Dubai & Muscat. Thus offering help for patientis with all kind of scars. It is a national and  international reference center for comprehensive Scar management, the first in Dubai and the UAE and one of the few in the world.

Based on many years of research and clinical experience in the field of scar therapy, we have developed a so-called “holistic scar therapy concept” and successfully implemented it in our daily practice. The “Holistic Scar Therapy Concept ”takes into account the different phases of scar formation and scar maturation.

This concept comprises:

1. Basic Skin Care: The quality and moisture level of the skin have a decisive influence on scar formation. Therefore, every scar treatment must starts with a skin check.

2. Avoidance: The best scar isno scar. Through the development of the minimally invasive endoscopic surgical techniques, longs scar are no longer needed in many cases.

3. Prevention: If a scar cannot be avoided plastic surgical principles should be applied, i.e. the closer and the more precisely the wound edges are to each other, the faster the wound will heal, that is why the initial wound suture should be done with outmost concern. The aim is the least noticeable scar.

Suppression: If a scar cannot be avoided, it should be as less noticible as possible: The following basic principles apply to all scar treatments (Golden CET rules/“dermatological secrets”)

1. Consult before final scar (→ stretch mark consultation at 2 trimester)
2. Evaluation before final scar (→ early systemic acne treatment)
3. Treatment before final scar (→ scar suppression after surgery/injury)
4. Treat a scar as early as possible (i.e. after complete wound healing/14 – 21 days)
5. Combined treatment lines are the best (“Scar supression Ladder” according to Hierner 2003)
6. Treat a scar long enough (“as long as a scar is red, it can be improved”)

Correction: If a scar is established, there are multiple conservative, minimal-invasive and operative treatment options to improve. Very often several treatment option are used in combination. The choice of treatment option(s) is determined by the type of scar.

Some scars can no longer be improved by any conservative and surgical measures (e.g. pigment changes). Appropriate scar cover can make these scars appear less noticeable.

Temporary Scar Covering

Temporary Scar covering is indicated at any point in the scar therapy, it is at the beginning of every scar therapy and is at the same time the icing on the cake of a successful scar therapy. There are 2 main options:

• Camouflage is used up in areas, in which conspicuous color differences need to be “covered up”
• “Corrective make-up” is and advanced form of camouflage used at the face. With the help of a few practical make-up tips, pigment changes can be concealed, and the patient’s social acceptance can be significantly improved

Permanent Scar Covering

Permantent scar covering by micropigmentation (tatooing) is routinely done by medical tattoo artist in oncological breast reconstruction patient for the nipple reconstruction. In Scar treatment there are 2 main option:

• Discretion, i.e. try to even out the color difference (→ skin micropigmentation)
• Distraction, i.e. try to cover up the scar with a tattoo