Due to infections and a prolonged healing period from a recent surgery, I expect to have a rather substantial scar on my abdomen. Self-confidence is important, but it would be great to minimize the damage!

I do eat a balanced diet, lots of vegetables and fish oils, supplemented with vitamins. Fresh Aloe vera and vitamin E (from a pierced capsule) have been my stand-by treatments for minor skin problems and tattoos, but I've been holding off until there's no longer a risk of reinfecting the incision.

Someone suggested increasing potassium to help heal, but I'd love to hear any recommendations you might have, topical or otherwise. Is there any treatment that should be avoided? A regimen that worked for you?

(Starting a kitchen garden this week -- plenty of time to add something to it!)

If nothing else, maybe the scar will just make me look tough. :)

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 doesn’t work...and can cause contact dermatitis. Topical steroids don’t help. They’re probably not absorbed well. Onion extract (Mederma) is heavily promoted for scars... but so far there’s not enough proof that it’s effective."

"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.

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!

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 < 0.05). The Aloe group had the shortest half-life and healed faster than the control group, All the other treated groups had no longer half-lives when compared with the control group, While silver sulfadiazine+Aloe increased the breaking strength of the healed wound. Aloe alone did not, but demonstrated an increase over the control. Topical Aloe significantly enhances the rate of wound healing and when combined with silver sulfadiazine reverses the wound retardant effect observed with silver sulfadiazine. Clindamycin and mupirocin significantly delay wound closure, However mupirocin enhanced the breaking strength of the wound.
ISSN: 0951-418X

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.

Hope this helps.

Hope this helps, Kali

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