From: spud(adonai) ® 16/07/2000 17:05:00
Subject: scar tissue post id: 99858
running from the Truely amazing thread.. I have a scar running trhough my nipple and it has left quite an obvious scar and the skin there is very very pink (not like the normal skin color). Would this be from the area the scar is in? Also i have noticed the scar goes a blue colour when cold, Why?



From: Carmel ® 16/07/2000 17:11:00
Subject: re: scar tissue post id: 99864
I don't know, but I think it has to do with the type of scar it is.

I have a number of scars of my legs, a collection of cuts, some odd ones and the standard chicken pox ones (from earlier this year, for those of you who remember my whining). These all turn blue when cold, or after a hot, soaking shower. However, I also have a tiny little scar the runs between my eyes (where a frown wrinkle would be). ANd it doesn't and never has. It was the result of a clean slice through my skin, whereas the others all resulted from a tear of the skin (or a chicken pock). Maybe that has something to do with it.

COme to think of it, all the 'clean cuts' (like kives and stuff) have left scars that don't go blue. Onlythe tears...

maybe I'm onto something!


From: Carmel ® 16/07/2000 17:33:00
Subject: re: scar tissue post id: 99878
Okay...

Making one up.

Tears in the tissue, as opposed to a clean cut, require a more sophosticated mechanism to heal. AS a result of this, the scar tissue that is formed is of a different type to normal tissue or the scar tissue left by a clean cut. This tissue does not have the same integrated blood supply that normal tissue does. Therefore, it's a slightly different colour. When you get cold, your blood vessels contract. If the scar tissue already has an altered blood supply, this constriction may result in greatly diminished blood supply, thus the blue colour.

All people should note that I am really just guessing here.


From: DarrenK ® 16/07/2000 18:00:00
Subject: re: scar tissue post id: 99896
Yeah, that sounds alright to me, too. I don't know for sure, but I think scars which result from healing by second intention (eg tearing scars) have a different vascular arrangement. This is because the wound is larger and needs to be filled by a less-than-ideal filling (in terms of aesthetics), which then becomes organised and revascularised.

The revascularisation is less well organised and therefore more prominent. The blue results from the same sort of peripheral shut down that turns your nail beds blue when cold.

Come to think of it, there may be more to this theory. I have a recollection that the amount of vscularisation is an indication of the age and stage of healing of the scar. Perhaps these tears take a long time to completely finish the process, and therefore needs a significant blood supply longer. Perhaps in another 10 years these scars will behave like the more normal "cutting" scars.

Same as Carmel, I'm only (partly) guessing.


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