After your surgery, your medical and nursing team will advise you on the care of your wound, any dressings that are required, and if you need stitches removed. Sometimes surgical glue is used along the wound to help it heal. Your wound care will depend on the type of surgery you have had.
Around two weeks after your surgery, your wound may be reviewed in a hospital outpatient clinic or by your GP (General Practitioner) service. Prior to this appointment, keep the wound dressing on, do not get the wound wet, and do not apply any creams to the wound area. Your wound and the surrounding skin can feel numb, tender, or sensitive, and you may have some swelling. If you are concerned that there is excessive swelling, redness, pain, or any unusual discharge from the wound, please seek medical advice.
A healthy balanced diet and lifestyle is important to support your recovery and wound healing. Please ask the health care professionals looking after you about diet, exercising, and any movement restrictions after your surgery.
A healed wound forms a scar, because of the natural healing process of the skin following injury or surgery. A scar can take around two years to mature fully, gradually flattening and becoming less red.
Sometimes as a scar forms it can be dry, itchy, and feel numb or sensitive to touch. It can remain red, be raised and widen. The scar can be less moveable than the surrounding skin. Scars that run close to or across a joint may limit movement and activities.
The following advice supports healthy scar formation after your surgery. Both once the wound has healed and as advised by the health care professionals looking after you:
• Wash and dry the scar area; use hypoallergenic products to avoid any skin irritation.
• Wash and dry the scar area; use hypoallergenic products to avoid any skin irritation.
• Use a hypoallergenic cream to hydrate the scar and surrounding skin as it may be dry. Cream can also help remove any remaining dried surgical glue on top of the fully healed wound or adhesive from the removed dressings. Apply cream twice daily.
• Protect your scar against ultraviolet rays with a suitable sunscreen (minimum sun protection factor 50) or with clothing, as scar tissue has reduced protection from the sun.
• Avoid extremes of heat and cold or significantly deep pressure to the scar area as it may feel numb.
• In the weeks after your wound has fully healed you can start to complete light massage using a hypoallergenic cream that does not irritate your skin. Work towards the scar in gentle strokes and circular massage movements, then place your fingers along the scar and massage along it as shown below. Complete for 5-10 minutes twice daily.
• Until six weeks after your surgery keep scar massage light and gentle. Seek advice from the health care professionals caring for you if you have any concerns.
• From six weeks after your surgery you can increase the massage pressure; continue working towards the scar and massaging along it. Continue applying cream and massaging your scar and the surrounding skin every day, to help with hydrated, mobile, and smooth scar tissue. It takes around two years for the scar to mature fully.
If you have any concerns or questions about caring for your scar, please contact the health care professionals looking after you. They can also advise if you need any additional treatments for your scar.
23-68 © RNOH
Date of publication: March 2024
Date of next review: March 2026
Author: Occupational Therapy Upper Limb Team
Page last updated: 01 May 2025