A few years back I injured my left shin - I slipped while getting out of the shower, and came down on my shin on the metal rail of the shower door frame. I didn't break anything, but the (blunt) rail split open the skin and caused a lot of swelling. The skin is scarred and to this day still appears slightly bruised, but that part I'm used to. The problem is really the scar tissue beneath the skin. I've known all along that it's been there since the injury, but all the fat in my legs pretty much disguised it. Now that I'm losing weight in my legs and gaining muscle, though, the bulge on my shin is becoming really apparent. My lower leg looks kind of... deformed, and at the point of injury my left calf is an inch larger around than my right calf.
Is there anything I can do to work on getting rid of the scar tissue? Any techniques or treatments? I thought there might be some people here who have experience with something similar. Thanks so much for any input.
My daughter cut her leg down to the bone, just under the knee, from one side of the leg to the other. There is a large scar all the way across, and a huge knot of tissue in the center of it that stands up quite dramatically. Sigh, the orthopedic surgeon she was seeing for the injury wanted to do plastic surgery and a skin graft on it. Said that was really the only way to smooth it out and make it less noticable. Although she would have 2 scars then, the new one from the place on her thigh where the skin for the graft would be harvested. She chose to live with the leg the way it is. (She was 12 when this happened, if she hates it later, we'll mortgage the house and try to fix it for her. . .)
Sorry! Have you tried seeing a dermatologist or plastic surgeon for it?
I haven't seen either a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon, and if the only option was plastic surgery I'd just choose to live with it, as your daughter did. Unless it somehow starts to go away on it's own I will probably see a doctor about it to find out whether there are any reasonable options for dealing with it... but was just kind of hoping that there might be some options that didn't involve anything too dramatic (massage, specific exercises, something).
Thank you very much for your feedback and posting about what options were presented to your daughter! I really appreciate it.
Thanks, it was NOT fun at all. There are a few over the counter "remedies" for scars, Mederma? I'm not sure how it would affect the scar tissue under the skin, but might help? Also, what about laser therapy? (I have not looked into either of these, just throwing them out there.) Good luck!
Thank you, goodforme. I was googling around a bit, and most of what I found related to beneath-skin scar tissue resulting from plastic surgery... but I would think some of the remedies might be the same? It seemed like hard massage to break up connective tissue (yikes!) and injections of corticosteroids are the least invasive measures that might work. I'm not really comfortable with the idea of attempting to break connective tissue in my leg without talking to a doctor, lol, so it seems like I'll need to see someone about it regardless.
Thank you again for responding, and for the suggestions. If I find out anything useful when I speak to my doctor, I'll let you know in case it's also useful for your daughter.
I bruised my shin bone very badly once. I had a baseball size knot on it and bruise that lasted forever and continued to bruise with the littlest contact. The doctor told me it would take a really long time to heal and it did. The bruising went down within a few months but the knot stayed there for a few years. It's all gone now but it's still sensitive sometimes in that spot on my leg. In my case, there was nothing to do to speed up healing, just took time.
Deep tissue massage was most helpful with issues I had related to a heavy duty ankle surgery. It took a few sessions and some time, but eventually it felt normal again.
Thank you for your feedback, 4star and junebug. It's been at least 2.5 years since the injury (the area is still sensitive/painful for me too, 4star!), but I could imagine it could still get better with more time. I will definitely look into whether some deep massage could help - I am glad to hear it helped following your surgery.
I had surgery on my wrist to remove a cyst that was pressing on a nerve and causing me serious pain. A While after the surgery I developed a lump. I thought I was going to have to have more surgery. My husband began massaging the area every night to relieve some of the pain and tightness. We were surprised that the lump started getting smaller. It took a couple months of nightly massage before it went away entirely. This wasn't really hard massage or anything. He massaged firmly, but gently all around the area, not just on the lump itself. I now sometimes massage the area a little to try to make sure it doesn't return.
Thank you, FitGirlyGirl! The area where I have the scar tissue is probably 2 x 3 inches in diameter, but I will try massaging around it rather than on it and see if that helps any. The idea of pressing on it a lot seemed kind of scary, lol.
My physical therapist told me to massage the vitamin E capsules into my c section scar to help it heal and help keep scar tissue from building up. I don't think it can't get rid of old scar tissue but it can help soften it.
I can understand. When he would press directly on the lump it hurt a lot. The pressure from the lump was making my whole hand and arm sore though, so something had to be done. When I called to cancel the second surgery after my wrist was flat again the doc said it was probably from the increased blood flow caused by the massage.
Scar tissue?
