Scarring After Cancer Surgery

All surgery will leave a scar of some sort and in some cases if there has been a large wound it will not be easy to hide.  Some will fade in time but when they are first seen they can be a bit scary.  Scarring after cancer surgery may be a bit distressing as it will be a permanent reminder of the operations that have been endured.  They can also be restrictive but this is also something that will improve in time as exercise and gentle movement will allow them to be less tight.

Scarring after Cancer Surgery – Breast Cancer

Depending on the type of surgery some scars can be quite large.  One of the biggest is likely to be as a result of a mastectomy as there is a large amount of tissue removed.  It can be distressing looking at the scars you are left with and it may be best to consider if you want to see this alone or to have someone with you.  There are clearly cases where this will not be so much of an issue as the scar is in a place where it will not be seen by other people but there are cases where the scars will be clearly seen and could lead to stares.  Facial scars can be upsetting and if a large amount of tissue has to be removed it may not be possible to rebuild the face or totally take away the scarring.

Scarring after Cancer Surgery – Skin Cancer

When there has been treatment for skin cancer there is often the need for plastic surgery to help recovery.  This is a form of cancer that is hard to deal with in some cases as the full extent of the problem is not always known.  Some of the cancer will be visible on top of the skin but it will be hard to know how much there is underneath.  As a result there is no real way of knowing how far the disease has spread and quite how much tissue will need to be removed.  Until the operation has been competed it will be hard to work out how much scarring after cancer surgery there is going to be and how this is going to affect you.

Cosmetic Options

For a small scar there may be the chance to have cosmetic surgery to limit how noticeable the scar is.  There are also cosmetics that can be used to cover the scar but this can be expensive if the scar is large and it is also a problem if the scar is not on the face.  For facial scarring however this can be a good way to cover it and it will not take much longer than it would to do your ordinary make up in the morning.

Some people will not be concerned about the scars as they are there as a result of the removal of cancer but not everyone will be able to cope as well.  Knowing beforehand that there will be scars will at least mean it is not a shock but until you see them it is going to be hard to know how scarring after cancer surgery is going to upset you.

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