Surgery scars: how long they take to fade, and what actually helps

This guide is not medical advice: only a doctor who examines your scar can say how it is healing.

How long does a surgical scar take to fade?

At least a year, and often longer: one review of surgical scar care puts maturation at 12 to 18 months, and an older BMJ review says many scars take two to three years to pale and mature.¹²

Around week three the scar starts remodelling, a long rebuilding phase that can last from months to over a year.³⁴ As its collagen reorganises and many of its small blood vessels die back, it slowly becomes thinner, softer and paler.⁴

For some people, month three looks worse than week three: remodelling peaks in the first three months, and a scar that is going to become thick and raised starts to show it then and can keep growing until about month six.³⁵ After a nose job, see rhinoplasty recovery, day by day.

What is normal, and what is not?

A young scar is usually pink to red, and can be firm, a little raised and itchy at first.⁶⁴⁷ As it matures it often turns lighter or darker than the skin around it.⁶

When healing makes more scar than expected, the result is a hypertrophic scar or a keloid.⁸ A hypertrophic scar is raised and firm but stays within the wound; it usually appears one to two months after surgery and tends to flatten and fade with time.⁷⁹ A keloid grows beyond the edges of the wound, can take 3 to 12 months or longer to appear, and does not usually flatten or fade without treatment.⁷¹⁰¹¹ Even doctors cannot always tell the two apart.¹²

Raised scars are more likely where everyday movement stretches the skin, as on the lower abdomen, the chest and the big joints,⁵ and in people of African or Asian descent.¹²¹³¹¹ If you have had a raised scar or keloid before, or keloids run in your family, tell your surgeon before the operation.³¹¹¹⁴

What actually helps?

Guidelines back silicone gel or sheets, tape that takes tension off the scar, and sun protection.¹⁵¹⁶⁷ No method works in every case, says a German guideline on scar treatment,¹⁵ and your own surgeon's aftercare instructions come first.¹⁷¹⁸

Silicone. The German guideline says it can be recommended after surgery for people at risk of raised scars, typically worn 12 to 24 hours a day for 12 to 24 weeks, starting once the stitches are out and the skin has fully closed.¹⁵ A Cochrane review found that silicone sheets reduced raised scarring in people prone to it, but called the evidence weak and the uncertainty great.¹⁹ A later Cochrane review, of silicone for treating raised scars, rated its evidence low or very low certainty.²⁰ Skin kept sealed under a sheet can occasionally develop a rash around the hair follicles.¹⁵

Tape. Tension on a healing wound makes a scar more likely to thicken, and tape across the incision takes some of it off.¹²³¹ In one trial after caesarean section, 41% of women who did not tape had a raised scar at 12 weeks, against none who taped for 12 weeks; only 39 of the 70 who started finished.²¹ A 2026 systematic review found some evidence that paper tape works about as well as silicone sheets, in studies mostly at high risk of bias.²² Tape can cause a rash or blisters.²¹²²

Sun. The NHS advises keeping a scar covered in the sun for at least a year, with SPF 30 or more on it.⁷

Massage and pressure. The NHS suggests massaging a fully healed scar with a water-based cream,⁷ but reviews rate the evidence as weak,²³²⁴ and one advises people prone to raised scars to avoid it, because massage stretches the scar.⁵ Evidence for pressure dressings on ordinary surgical scars is scarce.¹

Creams. Apart from silicone, scar products sold over the counter have little solid trial evidence for what they claim.²⁵ In a small trial, vitamin E made no difference or made the scar look worse in 90% of cases and gave a third of patients a rash; a systematic review found too little evidence that vitamin E helps on its own to justify its wide use.²⁶²⁷ Onion extract is disputed. It did no better than petroleum jelly in one trial, or than other common skin treatments in a meta-analysis, and it can irritate the skin; one systematic review sees potential in it, and the German guideline says it may be considered as an add-on.^28291530 We found no trial of cocoa butter on surgical scars, and one review lists it among ointments used on anecdote.¹

When does a scar need a doctor?

Urgently if it is swollen, painful, warm or leaking pus, and promptly if it is getting thicker or spreading past the edges of the wound.⁷¹⁴ A wound that comes apart can delay your recovery and leave a worse scar.³¹⁴

For a scar still thickening after about six months, guidelines add steroid injections into the scar, which can be repeated every three to four weeks.²⁴¹⁵ They can shrink and flatten it, but they hurt and can thin the skin or change its colour.³²¹¹¹⁵ Keloids often come back: British dermatologists say up to half grow back after injections, and American dermatologists say nearly all return after surgery alone.¹¹³²

A vascular laser, which targets the scar's blood vessels, can reduce redness and itching, but a Cochrane review found too little evidence to support or refute laser treatment for raised scars.¹²³³ Surgeons often wait several months to over a year for a scar to mature before considering revision, and even revision cannot completely erase a scar.⁴¹¹⁸

In Turkey these are a doctor's treatments: beauty salons may not give injections into the skin or treat with medical lasers.³⁴³⁵ If you had surgery abroad and are back in the UK, the clinic may not offer follow-up, and a GP may be able to recommend treatments or refer you to a specialist.³⁶⁷