Toddler forehead scar

[Aljay91]

My sweet DD is 17 months old, and back in December 22 she fell over on our front steps and cracked her wee forehead open. Fast forward 5 months and she has now healed but has this indented hole type scar right in the centre of her wee forehead!!

I am looking for similar experiences, did your/your child’s scar fade with time and growth? Given her age and all the growing she has left to do I can only hope it’ll stretch and flatten down. Or like my sisters chicken pox scar, potentially recede further up her head and be less noticeable. I am treating it with scar gels and covering it with sun cream but as an acne scar sufferer I am aware indented scars are the worst to remedy, so really only holding on to hope that the power of time will change this scar.

the guilt is real because it’s my fault. And it’s in such a terribly obvious place. I get pangs of guilt and sadness every day from seeing it knowing it might now be there forever. I should have been more diligent and now she’s paid the price.

My DD did this three times as a two year old (in three months... we were visited!)

Nearly 12yo now. The one next to her eye is quite visible, the forehead ones you need to really look for.

Her birthmark is nearly indistinguishable as well now.

It's barely visible. The fact it bothers you proves you are a caring and loving mother.

DS has similar on his forehead. It's fine. He's 29. DD has one on her elbow, it was my mum's fault.

I k ew a girl once who cut her cheek on a rosethorn. The scar gre with her across her cheek. It made her even more attractive than she was !

We are all the sum of our experiences. Better a visible scar than scars on the heart or soul.

DD cracked her head open when she was five and had a very visible scar across her forehead for about a year afterwards. Because she's very pale, there were definitely moments it felt as though it would always be obvious but as she grew, it faded. She's now 13 and is only visible from very close up and even then, only if you know where to look. She rubbed Bio Oil on it most days for about a year to stop it itching and because someone mentioned that massaging scar tissue can aid healing. Obviously we'll never know if it made a difference but if you met her today, I can guarantee you'd have no idea where the wound was.

Thank you. Yes I am trying a Mebo cream and a little massage, but she doesn’t like it! The cream or the massage, so I don’t really want to put her through it too much. I know scars can keep healing for a year so there’s still time yet.

Time works wonders, I do know that. And she has plenty of that on her side. I am sure soon enough I won’t even notice it and the guilt will fade.

My eldest has one on his forehead from a fall at nursery (cracked open on bookcase - I'm still cross they didn't call me, both because of the seriousness, and because it was too late by the time I picked him up to get stitches so it's a wide scar!)

TBH, whilst it reminds me every time I see it, and I get that frisson of annoyance/sadness it's not that obvious, and it's covered by his hair most of the time.

Plus the occasional scar gives character to a face :)

Ohh op I sympathise! My DD4 has a similar scar in her forehead from a lockdown walk gone awry (she fell flat on her face and a bit of gravel embedded itself in her forehead). That was 2.5 years ago now and it’s barely noticeable.

She also has a scar in her eyebrow from tripping and cutting it open on a wooden toy box at nursery - that was a serious one, we had to take her to a&e for steristrips. Again you can barely see the scar now, although i still get a little wrench when I notice it.

These kids cause us so much anxiety don’t they!

It will fade with time as she grows and probablf be joined by other marks on her skin. There are very few adults with no marks on their skin, our skin tells the story of our lives. Try not to make it a big thing and she won't be so conscious of it.

Thank you @MindatWork that is reassuring that it did fade a bit. We had gravel too, a&e had to pick it out and then just used a steristrip, no glue. I party wonder if they could have done a better job but I guess the aesthetics of the wound is not their concern. If it faded just a bit I reckon she’s not going to pay it much mind. But currently with its depth and location it catches the light and looks shadowy.

Update?

So far there is pretty little progress. A bit less red but still darker than her skin colour. Maybe more shallow if I am clutching at straws. Still hoping growth will play a factor in fading it or even moving its location as my step sister has a chicken pox scar that went from between her eyes to up near her hairline with age.

Give it time op. Scars take many months if not longer to fade.

Hey,
Just wanted to write a post saying your not alone and you can get through this ❤️
I posted on here many months ago about my baby who scratched her cheek and it left a scar when she was 4 weeks, she's now 14 months old and you can barely see anything at all. It gave me severe mental heath issues for all of this time where I was ridden with guilt and felt like a failure of a mum etc etc.
Anyway now she has another scar on her forehead, when she head butted a drawer handle 3/4 weeks ago (skin didn't break) and it's left a dent in her head. I'm now beating myself up about that too and reliving my nightmare that it took me so long to recover from the first time. I now feel very silly for letting the 1st one take up so much of my brain space and destroy her babyhood for me because it's basically disappeared and I feel like this one is a lot worse and noticeable 😞.
My point is, there is always something that we will beat ourselves up over 😢 no matter what happens, we will blame ourselves somehow too.
It's so flipping hard, I hope I can get through this one too. Sending love to you, our babies need us to be strong ❤️

Updated image. This is under direct downlighting to try and show the depth. In most indoor lighting it can no longer really be seen actually! But downlighting or outdoors in the sun it’s still quite a deep little dent. I do think once the redness is all gone it’ll be so much less noticeable so will keep up the sunblock and have cut a little fringe to also protect it from sunlight while it heals (and also because any hairdo is as good as torture for this 19 month old!!!).

Hi OP, I don't think it looks very noticeable. And please don't feel guilty; kids fall often, and generally recover well.

To give you an idea of how it might turn out in the long term, I had a very similar accident when I was about 4 years old, from falling onto the stone ledge in front of a fireplace. I ended up with a slightly longer vertical scar.

I'm now in my 30s, and it's slightly raised and a tiny bit paler than the surrounding skin - it's only noticeable under bright light. It's been like that for as long as I can remember, and hasn't changed much since it initially healed. I don't remember anyone ever noticing it or commenting on it, and it has never bothered me. (If anything, I actually think it's nice that I have a forehead scar like Harry Potter.)

I think it’s going to be impossible to predict. I’m in my mid-40s and still have a similar dent in my forehead from falling over at around 18 months old.

I barely notice or remember about it though and it’s really only visible when the light catches it in a certain way.

I have one too. And apart from being a very cool scar to show people when everyone showed everyone else their scars, I can say it hasn't affected my life in any way.

I know it's hard when they're little and perfect but it is really nothing as you grow up.

My 19yo had a habit of slicing his face open as a toddler.

The scars are still there, but they're not red, and they're now tiny compared to his grown up head.

I think that one on your DD's face will become insignificant over time.

I went the opposite way and have a fair sized hard lump on the left of my forehead. I was around 4 at the time of the accident, now 33 and it's obvious if you touch it but otherwise just shows a curved shadow in photos.
I guess I’m living in the wrong time for my skull to one day be of interest to archaeologists

Hi I was just wondering if the dent managed to go away my son has a similar one x

DS has exactly the same puck mark

Sorry to say but it hasn't faded in three years

I do feel like the scar has gotten a little more shallow but wider in a way. It is now skin coloured which helps. Shadowy afternoon light does terrible things to it but indoors you can't see it.

My baby scratched down her cheek when she was a month old, she's 16 months now and you can't really see it at all, I can't pick it up on camera what so ever. I suppose it depends how deep it is to determine what it heals like. Give it time x

Posting in case it helps anyone and gives them hope 💐