Help! Scar on my LO's face

[Sweetmommy]

Hi there!

My sweet little 4 years old boy felt on the edge of a cupboard at daycare 3 weeks ago... It was bleeding like crazy so we took him to the ER. They glued it and applied steritstrips. Took them off 5 days after, as instructed. I don't know if it should have been stitches, because now it is wide and open. The wound is healed but the edges of the wound doesn't touch, there is a good 2mm space between them. I think they call it a depressed scar?

It is my first time dealing with a deep cut, so I don't know if it's normal... It is right between his eyes, 1cm long (thanks god its small). But it is so wide, it really worries me. I am so devastated that my LO has now a big red depressed mark in the middle of his perfect little face. It gives me anxiety and I am beating myself up that he didn't had stitches... Should have gone to a plastic surgeon or something...But I didn't know! It breaks my heart looking at him. All I can see is this mark between his eyes.

I am applying a silicone base gel twice a day + sunscreen. I don't know if silicone gel sheets would be better? The instructions says it is for raised scars but he has indented scar.

As this has ever happened to you or your LO? Any positive outcomes? I keep reading it will get better, but it takes around 6 months before seeing improvement... That's a long time... Meanwhile, hopefully I will feel better about it cause I don't want to get depressed... And I don't want my son to be conscious about it.

A mommy looking for reassurance.

Thank you girls for the support!! It helps a lot!! Thanks for the pictures. I love to see that your little ones all healed very nicely!
DitzyPrints: would love to see the pictures! I also use the silicone gel and I am really wondering is gel sheets would help too. I don't care about the price!

Oh just saw them! Poor little thing :( It looks so much better! Was the scar depressed at first too and how was it repaired?

It was glued and then Senior nurse wasn’t happy with closure so poor baby had to have it re- done which was horrendous for him but was much neater. The plastic surgeon came to ward to check he was happy with closure and that it didn’t need stitches and he prescribed that eye ointment someone up thread mentioned. We saw him few days later as it was bleeding again but he was happy with how it was looking.
Scar was very indented and noticeable/very red Aug- Dec I would say. Really noticed a difference in last 8 weeks.
His silicone gel has sun protection built in and ds always has a hat on when outside whatever the weather.

So, for about 5 months there was no real difference, then suddenly it started to fade away? That is everyone keeps telling. It must heals from the inside out, so this is why the exterior doesn't change for that long. And it seems a lot of people have indented scar at first, too! But that it got better (did the hole fill a little bit?). Sounds reassuring. Its our first real bobo so I don't know what's normal or not.

Do you massage the scar? I am not sure if it will worsen it or not... Also, what is the brand of the silicone with sun protection you mentioned? I must apply the two separately and my son doesn't like it, it would be easier the two in one!

Thank you mama :)

Kelo-cote uv scar gel. I normally rub it in- in a circular motion. It was gradually fading over the whole time period but redness seemed to go more rapidly.
It was very indented you could see the indentation from the side but the skin has stretched I suppose over that time so looks much flatter now.
Honestly it will get better.
I wish I had listened to the lovely mumsnet lot when my ds has he accident I ended up really down about it but if I’d gave known 6 months ago how much better it would be at this point I would have been much kinder to myself.

Thank you. I will look for the product. I am sorry you felt so down. No mommy should ever feel this way. I really had bad anxiety about it so far, but after chatting with all of you and my friends/family reassuring me, I feel so much better. I can't see it no healing :)

Hi @Sweetmommy, I am just wondering how your little one is a year on? I'm basically you fast forward 12 months! My little girl (just turned 5) and she head planted the corner of her bed on Wednesday night, resulting in a horrible cut to her forehead. It looked pretty deep to me but didn't bleed that much considering, she only had one speck on her pyjamas. My DH took her straight to A&E and she had some steri-strips on it within the hour. Apparently the nurse said she didn't think it needed stitches and didn't even mention glueing it! They told us to keep the strips on for at least 5 days and not to get it wet. They put a big plaster type thing over the top of it to ensure she doesn't mess with it which so far is working well. I keep asking how it feels and she just says '"fine" so it doesn't seem to be bothering her or hurting her at all which I find strange.
I haven't seen it since she left for the hospital as obviously the plaster is still on now. I am pretty nervous as to what it is going to look like when we finally take it off as i really don't want her little face scarred for life badly as it is right in the middle of her forehead! I have done a tonne of research since it happened and ordered some Mederma cream and silicone gel to put on religiously once it has healed and am going to do all I can to ensure any scarring she has will be minimal. I've been and bought lots of vitamin C food to help her body heal naturally too! She's going to be so fed up of oranges in 5 days!!
I was just wondering if anyone has any further advice for me please. I've tried to upload a photo but not sure if worked (this is my first ever post)!

Hello,my daughter had 1 cm.cut on her forehead.i am very sad about it :( she had steri strips,now 4 weeks later she has a scar.i do not know what to do,i cant sleep.at nights.i wish it disapeared :( Sweetmommy please tell us,how your boy's scar now,i need some hope?

@migle, I am no expert at all, so please someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think 4 weeks after a wound is still very early and so would fully expect to still see a red mark/scar as the wound is very much still healing. It will take time for the scar to fade.

My DD cut her head two weeks ago and she still has the steri-strips and plaster on. I am going to keep them on as long as is needed to ensure it heals as best it can. We changed the plaster this morning and from what I can see it seems to be healing well and still has a scab on at the moment. I am going to try keep them on until the scab has fallen off as I really don't want her knocking it off by accident as this can delay healing even more.

Once the scab is off and it is all healed I have some silicone gel to rub on it morning and night. I am hoping this works as well as I have heard it does 🤞.

I really hope your Dds heals well too xx

41rosierose3 thanks for response.you are right,we need more time for scar. My daughter is only 18 months,so i feel.guilty for an accident. But i hope thar scar become hardly noticeable.my friends daughter scar after 1 year faded to nothing. I wish that my girl and your daughter will be lucky for this thing. Now i only keep away her scar from sun and read that is good for scar aqva cream.

Hi @Sweetmommy, could you update on the scar, how it looks now? My daughter had a similar situation recently, got gluedon her forehead, but once we removed the glue after two weeks we saw the skin's edges were not very close to each other, and the scar is atrophic, leaving in between a long depression. I am very frustrated about that, she is only 2. How has the scar of your child change?

@Cristina2021 - saw your message - hope these pics help
They are - 3 days after, then 2 weeks, 5 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years x

Thank you @jackstini. The improvement on your son's forehead is amazing! Your pictures are so comforting, thanks a million for sharing them, you bring much needed hope, as I have been very upset since that happened, feeling awful for it every single day. I can't share pictures it seems, otherwise I would have shown our case here. We are using kelocote, scar saviour from nessa (organic mix of coconut and other oils and vitamin E) and rosehip oil. Her scar is vertical and is 2 cm long, on the forehead, it is also atrophic because the scar reopened after they glued it in the hospital. I wonder how good are actually silicone gels like kelo cote in such a case, because I would prefer that the scar grows until the skin level so that later there is no hole in between the healthy skin. I had thought that silicone gel is better for keloids. But I still apply it twice a day. I massage it every night (or the oils) when she sleeps as she doesn't allow me to do it during the day. Do you think that applying silicone gel and oils in the same day is fine, or is it better just to stick to one of the two?

Glad it helps, it really is very very faint now and was about 3 cm long

We only ever used bio oil so not sure about the other stuff

Is she feeling ok about it?
Thank goodness for Harry Potter making forehead scars cool to kids - ds only ever had 'wow!' from other kids. Never got anything negative at all

She is only 2 years old and as she doesn't see it she is ok with it. Otherwise for a small scrstch in her hand she makes a big thing out of it. Do I need to have a premium account to be able to post pictures here?

@Sweetmommy

So, for about 5 months there was no real difference, then suddenly it started to fade away? That is everyone keeps telling. It must heals from the inside out, so this is why the exterior doesn't change for that long. And it seems a lot of people have indented scar at first, too! But that it got better (did the hole fill a little bit?). Sounds reassuring. Its our first real bobo so I don't know what's normal or not.

Do you massage the scar? I am not sure if it will worsen it or not... Also, what is the brand of the silicone with sun protection you mentioned? I must apply the two separately and my son doesn't like it, it would be easier the two in one!

Thank you mama :)

May I ask how your sons scar have improved in the last few years?

Hello there. I know this post is a couple of years old so I’m hoping I can find out how it turned out after all these years. I have the same problem now with my little girl. Right between her eyes. It’s indented and it’s all I can see I can’t stop thinking about it and crying about it. I saw in the comments that you thought because he uses facial expressions there it was making it look more apparent. I feel the same way. I’m hoping you can let me know how it turned out.

I have the exact same scar with my little perfect baby girl. Please tell me your daughters got better and less indented?

@Migle123 hey there. I just read your comment and I’m dealing with the same thing now with my 6 year old. I’m hoping that it turned out well?

@Cristina2021 hi I’m wondering if you can give an update on how your little girls scar healed? Mine is suffering from the exact same thing. Im going crazy with sadness for her poor little face.

Hi, I am really sorry to hear that. See below pictures of the scar one year after, and few months after (the one in the sun is the latest one). But it’s sometimes less visible it depends on many factors, time of the day, hydration. In the summer is most visible because the scar gets lighter colour than the rest. I still think about it and feel bad about it everyday, so I fully understand you. I hope that we can try laser one day when she is bigger but at the same time I am afraid if this makes further damage. Would like to hear from others also whether they have tried laser. We used many cremes in the first year but because it’s in the forehead I think that this didn’t help because the silicone cremes are to prevent the scar from overgrowing which is not a risk in this area of the face. I hope the pictures help to give you a fair picture of the evolution.

@Cristina2021 thank you so much for your reply. I’m happy to see your little girls has healed really good for this short amount of time. I imagine it’ll heal even better and she continues to heal.
yes I am looking into laser as well. Im actually taking her to a dermatologist soon so they can tell us what’s the best route to take for her. Im hoping they give us answers. And yes I’ve been putting silicone on it for a couple of months also but I’m like you said I don’t think it’s doing anything for the depression of the scar. im hoping laser can be the answer. At least to get it to look better.

@Cristina2021 also did you protect it from the sun? If so for how long?

Yes I protected it from the sun, during one year I was always covering it with a plaster so that no sun gets there. Now I make sure to everyday apply sun protection. I think that because the scar is depressed and of another tissue, it will be visible as the head grows. It won’t fade away so laser is important. I add a picture that I just took now. What is very important is not to show your concerns to your daughter and support her so that she doesn’t get annoyed herself with this. My daughter is almost 4, but she is not aware of the scar.

Okay yes that was my main concern. I have been putting a bandaid on it every day since she got it so it can protect her from the sun. But she’s tired of wearing it so I’m trying to see what else I can do to protect it.

and yes I don’t talk about it to her but she’s well aware of it as she is 6 years old and has to put on a bandaid everyday to go to school so she knows it’s there. It doesn’t seem to bug her though.

yeah I read good thing about lasers really being able to help depressed scars. So I’m really hoping that can work for both out beautiful girls.
although maybe when they grown up it won’t bug them and they won’t even want to fix it.