100% Donor Scar Elimination?

Dr. Rassman,

Do you think that 100% elimination of donor scars will be possible in the future? Technology is always improving and it seems like scars could be emliminated. Are there any other possibilities other than Juvista and Acell that are being researched? Thank you for all the helpful information.

Scarring happens as a result of all surgeries. There is no such thing as 100% elimination of a scar and treatments like Juvista and Acell will not dispose of scars entirely. The key to dealing with scars is to keep them very, very small. In the case of a donor scar, it can be as small as 1mm wide naturally in good healers, or reduced to that level on occasion. For bad healers, there really is no solution. By “bad healers” I mean those people who stretch their scars after the wound has healed.

Techniques such as the trichophytic closure repair of a wound in the donor area works well in many, but not all patients. For more info on the trichophytic closure technique, see here and here.