long story short, i had surgery. i need as many different homemade herbal/natural remedies or creams or oils or whatever to help in the healing of the incisions and scarring.
if you know of any, please list them
thank you so much
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long story short, i had surgery. i need as many different homemade herbal/natural remedies or creams or oils or whatever to help in the healing of the incisions and scarring.
if you know of any, please list them
thank you so much
I used Vitamin E, with the blessing of my plastic surgeon, when I had surgery on my face. It healed up very nicely in short order and you can barely see the scar now. I applied it liberally once a day right before bed and rubbed it in, the plastic surgeon told me that massaging the area would help the scar to break down and sure enough he was right. Just once a day don't get carried away, is what he told me. Have you talked to your doc about this yet? (time on massaging the area was less than five minutes, btw this was my tear duct down onto my nose so it was oober sensitive)Quote:
Originally Posted by hunybee
K-
yah. the suggestion was to use the scar creams over the counter. i don't like using them because so many times i am either allergic to one of the ingredients, or my skin is so sensitive that i get a rash. thus the desire for the recipes to make my own.
the vitamin e is a good one. my doctor did caution me to be sure about the vitamin e though as many companies are also putting selenium (i think that was the one) in with the vitamin e and that causes skin discoloration (which obviously i want to avoid LOL). they said to make sure i knew the source and double checked it
Pure Vitamin E oil is probably the best. If you have access to comfrey, blending some up with a bit of water and applying it like a poultice to the scar area will help a lot... it contains allantoin, which is a skin cell rebuilder. It works! (hubby uses a comfrey salve I make up for cows who have sliced or otherwise damaged teats badly- he says he wouldn't farm without it)
Basically, tincture of time will solve most of it...
Summerthyme
Bentonite Clay!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summerthyme
do you mean comfrey leaves or oil or tincure?
and can they be combined (the vit e oil and comfrey)?
also, what about coconut oil? i have cold pressed, raw, unfiltered coconut oil. i also have all natural red palm oil as well. would these be helpful?
When I had surgery on my elbow I ended up with a 12" scar. The physical therepist gave me cocoa butter to rub on the scar. I still have a really visible scar but the cocoa butter made my skin around the scar heal well and I never went through that itchy phase when wounds are healing. And by rubbing lotion/cream/whatever on the scar it helps desensitize the area so it won't hurt so much as it's healing.
You can easily make some comfrey oil, which will work well and probably is a lot easier than putting a messy poultice of raw leaves on...
And yes, coconut oil is a nice emollient oil.
So, if you want to combine them, heat some comfrey leaves in the coconut oil (I use a big roasting pan in the oven for this- you can do it on the stove top if you're watching it carefully and don't let it get too hot... you do NOT need a kitchen fire. Amounts? Enough oil to cover the leaves, basically.
Cook until the leaves get crispy. Then strain (a wire strainer works well... you can sort of moosh on the leaves with your hands, and if some leaf gets into the oil, it's no big deal)
You can add your vitamin E oil to this. And then, if you want to get fancy or make it a lot easier on yourself to apply it (lots less messy), add some wax (beeswax if you can get it is really nice, but if not, paraffin will work. I use "candle sand" for the cows salves... I don't waste expensive beeswax on them! LOL).
About 1 ounce of wax to 1 cup of oil seems to work if you're using coconut oil. I can't tell you exactly because it varies so much, depending on the type of oils and the temperatures. I have to use about half as much wax in the winter months as summer... or we can't get the salve out of the tin in the barn! A few drops of lavender essential oil would be a really nice addition- don't use citrus essential oils, as they can also cause skin sensitivity to light, and discoloration. Lavender is very healing...
If you do make this salve up, it can be used on all sorts of minor problems, like kid's scrapes and hurts, or sunburn.
Summerthyme
Thank you!
CC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summerthyme
cool! thank you! so far, nothing in there sounds like a problem for me
i had to laugh at that thoughQuote:
don't use citrus essential oils, as they can also cause skin sensitivity to light
you do remember WHERE i am talking about, right? :mrgreen:
i don't think that area has seen sunlight.........ever LOL
LOL! Yeah, I know. But... if you want this to be all purpose, you don't want to be putting it on sunburns on the kids where it will cause .... *sun sensitivity*!
Oh, when adding the wax to the oil. Stir it in and let it melt. Then dip a small amount out and pour it into a saucer or something and set it in the fridge. In 10 minutes or so, it should be cool enough for you to have a good idea on how hard/soft the salve is, and whether you need more wax...
Summerthyme
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summerthyme
With hunybee's allergies I don't know if I'd recommend paraffin a lot of folks have strong reactions to it as it's essentially a petroleum product.
Will make up some of that comfrey salve thanks for the tips.
K-
Dont know if this will help scarring, but I have heard that honey will speed healing of an incision. Might be worth a try. I know it will help with burns. I once poured boiling gravy on my hand at work( no clue how I did that) and we put honey on it as soon as I washed it. It helped take some of the pain away, and I don't have a scar in spite of the big reddened blistered area I had.
For a slow-healing wound, if you moisten the area slightly (if it needs moistening), sprinkle plain white sugar on it, then cover it with a bandage, that will speed healing, too (and it's safe even for diabetics. Doctors say it will heal diabetic ulcers, too)
Other sugar options include mixing the sugar with antibiotic ointment or with saline. For bedsores, mix it with milk of magnesia.
I know this isn't exactly what you asked for, but this is our family's favorite salve: http://www.bulkherbstore.com/Eden-Salve_Organic
You could check out the ingredients, if you wanted to copy it. It works great for EVERYTHING. Monster Costa Rican bugs to 2nd degree burns.