Scars are marks left by a healed wound, burn, or incision. It is composed of tough fibrous tissue. Scar tissue on the skin may become abnormally thickened, raised, or red. This is known as a keloid scar.

A keloid is a mass of excessive fibrous tissue that appears at the site of a scar. Dark-skinned people are more likely to form keloids than are people of other races.

Most unattractive scars can be removed or treated by cosmetic lasers, peeling or 'polishing' techniques, various mineral and antioxidant supplements to help curing from the inside out, and the use of topical natural solutions to encourage tissue healing.

Is any scar truly permanent? For the most part, scars in general are forever, although there can be ways to minimize the severity of the scar visibly. That implies a scar can be improved or masked and therefore reduced visibly, but there is usually some trace of a scar.

Are there parts of the body on which scars cannot occur? Commonly the development of a scar is virtually anywhere on the body. It's simply a matter of how much of a scar is visible. Therefore, if there's an injury, there will commonly be some residual scarring. The degree of scarring oftentimes depends on the age of the individual being scarred at the moment of scarring, and the ethnicity of that individual. So, usually the younger the sufferer, the fairer the complexion and eye color, the more minimal the scar is.

What is a hypertrophic scar? A hypertrophic scar is a scar which is raised, red, large, visible and oftentimes troublesome. It is an undesirable form of scarring and usually responds to some form of treatment if you treat it early enough.

How do you eliminate a hypertrophic scar? It depends mostly on the age of the sufferer, the gender, where the scar is, how the scar was formed, how long it's been there and whether anybody has tried to reduce it before. All those factors will influence the usual treatments which will involve laser reduction.

I am pregnant now and want to avoid getting stretch marks. What is your advice? Generally speaking, stretch mark development is an inherited trait related with with hormonal/skin changes during pregnancy. In general, there are very few proven ways to reduce stretch mark appearance during pregnancy. Either they appear or they don't. The intelligent thing is to treat the stretch marks early, after they appear, or during the last months of pregnancy. You can safely take oral Vitamin A, C and E supplementation.

What is a keloidal scar? A keloid scar is just like a hypertrophic scar but it is older and it is usually fixed, implying that a hypertrophic scar is usually still evolving or maturing. A keloid is usually a scar which is in its final form and is somewhat more difficult to eliminate or remodel. Keloidal scars, depending on where they are, can be remodeled but with greater effort.