Vitamin E is fantastic! Just pierce the pill with a pin and squeeze out a little or a lot. Spread it around over the area every day and it'll do as good a job as can be done.

Have you talked to your doctor about your concern with scarring? Treatment can be prescribed to help minimize scarring during the healing period (i.e. silicone sheet wrap).

Vitamin E has been touted as a scar treatment for years (including by health professionals) but more recent research has shown that it doesn't work. From the July 2004 edition of the "Pharmacist's Letter":

"Vitamin E capsules are often opened and rubbed onthe scar. Tell people it doesnÂt work...and can cause contact dermatitis. Topical steroids donÂt help. TheyÂre probably not absorbed well. Onion extract (Mederma) is heavily promoted for scars... but so far thereÂs not enough proof that itÂs effective."

I read the stories about Vit. E not working, but having seen first hand how it does help in certain instances, I still believe in it. Not ALL studies are necessarily perfect, and it's possible that they were based on scars already 'set in', vs newly forming ones.

There's evidence that vitamin E does not help the appearance of "newly forming" scars, and may actually make them look worse. From this study:

"We attempted to determine whether topically applied vitamin E has any effect on the cosmetic appearance of scars as suggested by multiple anectodal reports. METHODS: Fifteen patients who had undergone skin cancer removal surgery were enrolled in the study. All wounds were primarily closed in 2 layers. After the surgery, the patients were given two ointments each labeled A or B. A was Aquaphor, a regular emollient, and the B was Aquaphor mixed with vitamin E. The scars were randomly divided into parts A and B. Patients were asked to put the A ointment on part A and the B ointment on part B twice daily for 4 weeks. The study was double blinded. The physicians and the patients independently evaluated the scars for cosmetic appearance on Weeks 1, 4, and 12. The criteria was simply to recognize which side of the scar looked better if there was any difference. The patients' and the physicians' opinions were recorded. A third blinded investigator was shown photographs of the outcomes and their opinion was also noted. RESULTS: The results of this study show that topically applied vitamin E does not help in improving the cosmetic appearance of scars and leads to a high incidence of contact dermatitis. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that there is no benefit to the cosmetic outcome of scars by applying vitamin E after skin surgery and that the application of topical vitamin E may actually be detrimental to the cosmetic appearance of a scar. In 90% of the cases in this study, topical vitamin E either had no effect on, or actually worsened, the cosmetic appearance of scars. Of the patients studied, 33% developed a contact dermatitis to the vitamin E. Therefore we conclude that use of topical vitamin E on surgical wounds should be discouraged.

Most other well-conducted studies on this subject have had similar conclusions about vitamin E's ineffectiveness.
People heal differently, so it would be easy to get the impression that vitamin E or another topical product made a difference based on limited personal experience.

Thanks for the responses!

eric, that study is definitely something to consider. Like lucy, I've had good experiences with it, but with minor problems, e.g., dry skin, reminants of blemishes, etc.

I did a search on the site you linked, as well as a few other journal archives (I'm going to miss my university access after graduation!), and while a few article abstracts seem to have some explaination as to why E should be good for the body, many actual trials concur with yours. Thanks for pointing that out -- I wouldn't have thought to look.

There doesn't seem to be much on aloe at all, although one study seems to show that it improves healing to some extent. Anyone with a pot of it next to his or her stove would probably agree!

Aloe study, if you're interested. For those sensitive to animal testing, please note, it does involve the use of rats.

HEGGERS, JP; KUCUKCELEBI, A; STABENAU, CJ; KO, F; BROEMELING, LD; ROBSON, MC; WINTERS, WD. 1995. WOUND-HEALING EFFECTS OF ALOE GEL AND OTHER TOPICAL ANTIBACTERIAL AGENTS ON RAT SKIN. PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH 9 (6): 455-457.

Abstract: The effects of topical antibacterials were studied in an acute wound healing model, Sprague-Dawley rats after appropriate anaesthesia received four 1.5 cm(2) dorsal defects through the skin and panniculus carnosus, Skin defects were treated for 14 days with 2% mupirocin ointment, 1% clindamycin cream, 1% silver sulfadiazine cream+Aloe vera gel, and silver sulfadiazine combined with Aloe gel. An untreated group served as controls, Each group was comprised of 10 animals each to achieve statistical significance, Wound closure rate was assessed by serial planimetry. Following healing, the breaking strength of each resultant scar was determined. Wound half-lives and overall healing rates were calculated by regressing the log of the areas of all wounds over time, Overall healing rates of all the treated groups were significantly different compared with control group (p ISSN: 0951-418X

Well, I guess if the experts say it's no good, I'll believe them. Isn't it funny how you can get an idea in your head and not want to change even in the face of real evidence? And me always telling people to believe the MD's!

I agree that topical Vitamin e is probably not going to reduce scarring. What will is mederma http://www.mederma.com/ and exposure to infrared light. IR light has been demonstrated to regenerate collagen structure and oddly enough can also repair DNA, which is really amazing. Talk to your doctor or dermatologist about these options. They probably know more.

There's been some research on laser or infrared treatment of scars; obviously this isn't something you can try at home.

Mederma (mentioned earlier) is an onion extract cream. There's only weak evidence that it might help the appearance of scars. In looking further at this, I also found studies criticizing the lack of solid evidence for silicone sheeting in scar treatment (something I mentioned previously as a medical option).

It's good that evidence-based medicine is taking a searching look at treatments long assumed to be effective, even if it's discouraging that both over the counter and prescription remedies aren't standing up to scrutiny very well.

I personally recommend a product called scar serum from drmaxpowers.com. I used this product last year and up to this point it has given me great results.

Hope this helps.

Vitamin C , hydroquinone and silicon sheets are the most important ingredients to look for while searching a product. Invicible contains all of them and it worked effectively on my scars. Not only this but it also treated the dark spots on my face during the same period. The smell is a bit stinky otherwise the product is worth buying

Rosehip seed oil and helichrysum essential oil both enjoy reputations for diminishing scarring. Emu oil is also highly touted for this use but have never used it myself, the former two oils mentioned I have personally seen work wonders.

Hope this helps, Kali

Silicone is herbal?

On the other hand, there's some evidence a gel using onion extract can be helpful against scarring (PubMed has information).