Whenever you have trauma where the skin is punctured, torn, cut, or gouged, the skin will have to heal itself. The good news is that you don’t have to tell your body to heal itself; the healing will occur automatically. Your body is programmed to heal the skin whenever you experience a wound.
The complete healing process takes several months. If you took a photo of a wound daily for a year, you would be able to capture the different healing stages on film. One major thing you would notice is that the wound first forms a scab, which eventually falls off and creates a scar. The scar actually changes color over time.
In the beginning, the wound and forming scar is red or reddish purple. The area that is wounded sends out messages to the body to send in blood flow to help healing. Part of this new blood flow is created by the spontaneous development of new blood vessels to deliver nutrients and growth factors to the wounded area. The development of new blood vessels is called angiogenesis. The extra blood supply makes the healing skin more red than the surrounding normal skin.
Besides new blood vessels sprouting up around the wound, your body creates inflammation chemicals and growth factors to enhance healing. The wound needs this initial inflammation to start the healing process. Inflammation also makes the initial scar red or reddish purple in color.
However, when this inflammation phase lasts for too long, it can actually prevent optimal healing. The longer inflammation lasts, the more the inflammation will interfere with healing.
As long as the body continues to make the inflammatory chemicals, the wound will be red or even bright red. Once the wound progresses through the other stages of healing, the resulting scar starts to form and the redness begins to fade. Scars can take up to 18-24 months to heal properly and fade as much as possible.
What to Do If You Want to Decrease the Redness of a Scar
The key to improving healing is to supply everything that your skin needs to heal optimally. This includes taking care of the injury appropriately, eating the right foods, and using the right scar treatment.
Whichever product you decide to use, research the ingredients to make sure they improve scar healing and don’t interfere with healing in any way. For example, one ingredient consistently found in the very best scar removal formulas is dimethicone silicone. Multiple studies show that silicone is the gold standard treatment for scars which is why doctors recommend it for both new and old scars. Other ingredients that specifically decrease redness are licorice extract and some stable forms of vitamin C.
Have you noticed your scar change color over time?
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The information on this site is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. Please speak to your doctor to treat any medical condition. Information on this site is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment.
Sheldon has a scar and I am wondering why some days it is redder than others.
Thank You,
Jeanne Peabody
Hi Jeanne, on the days when it is red, was he out in the sun without sunscreen? The sun can redden a scar when not protected.
Hey, I have surgical scars and one of them changes from red to a shade of purple randomly. Could there be something wrong?
Hi Rhonda, Unlikely to be anything wrong. This may be related to fluctuating blood flow through the area. Does the color change with certain activities? Does it change color the more active you are?
Such a helpful post, thank you so much for posting! Does the inflammatory stage vary with how big the wound is?
Hi Nina, The wound healing cycle is fairly constant regardless of the size of the wound but larger wounds can take longer to heal.
After tanning I noticed the middle of my 3rd degree burn scar from 5 years ago, tuned reddish pink, but the outside of the burn is still the normal color. Should I be worried?
Hi Sierra, scar tissue is different from normal skin, especially burn scars and tanning is not advised. UV rays will redden and darken scars, sometimes permanently.
I had a scab on my cheek that came off 3 weeks and there has been pink/red skin there ever since. Would that be a scar? And how long will it be until it eventually fades and matches with the rest of my skin?
Hi David, the red/pink is fresh skin. Make sure you are applying a scar treatment during the healing process (which can take up to a year). How it heals depends on a variety of factors - are you wearing sunscreen on your face to protect it from the sun? Do you eat healthily and lead a healthy lifestyle? It’s best to incorporate a diet with Vitamin A, C and copper and zinc while healing.
I had scar revision and it’s been six months and my scars are still red. Is this normal?
Hi Katie, yes, it takes 1-2 years for a scar to heal.