14-Month old surgical scar from Surgery still scabs.

[StefanieSparklePants 95]

Hi,

I feel like this is pretty unusual. I had my RNY last july 20th, 2015. For the most part, I didn't have trouble with incisions healing, but 1 incision did become mildly infected. I was prescribed antibiotic salve and it cleared up. From time to time, if I hit my side against something or wear an elastic waistband over that old incision area, it become irritated and sometimes will scab over.

This seems crazy that a 14-month old scar would still scab over and get irritated. It doesn't seem normal. But I'm guessing it is because i've irritated old scar tissue where the incision was made? I dont know. It's weird. Help!

Edited September 15, 2016 by StefanieSparklePants

[LisaMergs 2,857]

What you COULD be experiencing is called tissue turn-over. When you bump/irritate it, the area has a memory of being injured. Your scars are made up of a different cellular structure than untouched skin. collagen, in untouched skin, has a basket weave structure, whereas in scar tissue, the tissue is more fibrous, and one directional.

Without knowing what the scar looks like, it's hard to tell. Did it form a keloid? Meaning is it raised, painful? Could possibly be hypertrophic- where the collagen formation was incomplete.

You said it was infected at one point and you were given an antibiotic salve- something could be said here, as well. If you had a fistula, think of a well spring coming to the surface, with the infection at the bottom, your skin surface the top of the well, again, incomplete collagen formation after it healed.

So my theory - without seeing it or looking at cytology slides, would be that the cellular structure may keep trying to "turn over" to complete the healing process.

Yep. Microbiology major in undergrad lol.

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Oh, and for what it's worth- my c-section scar- 16 years later, still drives me batty! Itchy too!

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[StefanieSparklePants 95]

Yeah, gonna ask a doctor. It's super weird and it scared my husband, but I was like: oh yeah, it does that every so often. The body is weird. Lol