Scars: Do Silicone Strips Help?

Many of us have scars we wish were less prominent. Luckily clothes can often cover a scar but dressing to hide one's scar isn't practical or even desirable. With all the advances in treatment technology certainly, there should be some solid researched data on whether silicone strips make incisions heal better with less scaring.

Searching the web for "silicone strips for scars" brings up a lot of "hits" of where to buy silicone strips but not much science as to how or whether they really help a scar's appearance. I finally found a slide presentation of a study performed in 2003 by a doctoral physical therapy student Kathleen Mitchell at Shenandoah University with Chair/Professor Barbara H. Long at the Health & Exercise Department at Bridgewater College.

Two worthwhile questions were posed. "Is there value in using silicone gel products with post surgical wounds to enhance scars pliability and visual appearance?" and "Is one product better than another?"

Studies regarding the mechanism of silicone strips or gel do not clearly describe how they work and some even dispute that silicone products make a difference. It is thought that silicone keeps more moisture in the skin and decreases the arrival of inflammatory mediators. Silicone strips or gel are also believed to decrease collagen production which when over produced can lead to thicker scar formation. However, another study in 2001 indicated that there was no real difference between silicone and non silicone dressings.

Mitchell and Long set out to test the results of three brands of silicone strips to directly answer their second question: Is one product better than another? They tested 3 types of strips on 20 post op patients with comparable scars receiving six weeks of rehab. Five patients were put in each of the three groups and five were randomly put in the control group.

The three brands tested were:

Smith & Nephew CICA CARE® Adhesive Gel Sheets

Johnson & Johnson's BAND-AID® Brand Scar Healing Strips

CURAD® Scar Therapy™ Cosmetic Pads

Manufacturers' directions were closely followed; all scars were examined weekly by the same examiner using a written clinical scar assessment scale. The results showed that the Curad group had the most improvement, followed closely by the Band-Aid group, then the CICA Care group. The Curad group showed more than twice the improvement in their scars' appearance over the control group. All three of the products were felt by the patients to improve their scar's appearance.

The conclusion of the study showed that over the counter silicone strips were a helpful and cost effective way to treat scars. Even though Curad turned out to be the cheapest silicone strip product to use, it showed the most improvement. The bottom line was that using any silicone product was better than not using one to improve the appearance of post operative scars.