Why Are Some Transplant Scars More Noticeable Than Others?

How come some people’s scarring on the back shows up so noticeably, and others don’t? Does it all depend on how many grafts you use?

Scarring is a complex problem related to:

1. The healing properties of the patient
2. The size of the strip
3. The techniques used at the time of the surgery
4. The skill of the surgeon

We are all different, so assuming you compare 100 of my patients (where I did all of the surgery) that only received 1000 grafts, for example, the variation in healing will become evident, assuming that the exact same technique was used on each closure.

When I performed general surgery and did an appendectomy, I used to brag how wonderful my scars were, and how you could rarely find them. That was the case in 19 out of every 20 patients. The 20th patient would be excluded from my bragging. Get it?