Scars appear on the body after one has had an accident, surgery, skin disease, burn, cuts, scrapes or infection. In the formation of a scar the skin layer gets damaged and it depends on how deep the wound is and on what part of the body the scar will form. The scar tissues are different from the natural skin tissue and the scar is the way the body repairs itself. In a scar the hair follicles and sweat glands will not reappear as they are damaged beyond repair. The wound becomes a scar after the body has repaired itself and most deep scars are permanent marks on the skin. Some wounds heal quickly and in some cases the wound may take months before a scar forms. If the wound is an abrasion or lightly damages the upper layer of the skin, like a bruise, the skin gets repaired without leaving a scar. The shape and size of a scar depends on how deep the wound was and how much damage occurred. At times a scar may hurt for some time even after it has formed as the healing process is still continuing within the body.

There are different types of scars flat scars, sunken scars, chicken pox scars, stretch mark scars and acne scars. When a scab forms on the wound this is the first sign of the healing process and one should not pick or try and peel off the scab as it is going to disintegrate itself once the new skin forms under it. Some scars may hurt if touched even after they have formed and this is because the nerves, blood vessels, muscles, etc have also been damaged under the skin and touching or feeling a scar is putting pressure on them. Creams and ointments with vitamin C, E helps in healing the scar that is because they speed up the skin cells reproduction cycle.

The new skin cells that form on the site of a scar are different from the original skin and therefore a scar is never going to disappear completely. The formation of the scar also depends on location of the injury and the person's age as well. In some cases the scar can be delicate to touch and one may need to wear protective clothing on it as it can get damaged easily.

There are two types of abnormal scars which are hypertropic and keloid scars and they usually occur in younger and darker skinned people. Keloid scars can also occur from piercing the body. They are inert masses and do not hurt. A sunken scar occurs when the underlying muscles, etc have been damaged or removed which leaves a gap and that is why the scar has a sunken appearance.

In scar treatment one should remember that scars can never be completely covered or removed and a trace will remain, different methods have been tried to reduce or eliminate scar marks. Silicone gel sheeting and steroids have been the two most successfully tried methods for general scar treatment. Gel sheeting is extensively used in case of burn wound scars. Steroid injections are a long term process of trying to flatten a scar and eventually they may help in flattening the scar. In case of slight scars using creams, ointments or a medication like an antiseptic helps in reducing the scar. If one has to wear a pressure garment to flatten a scar this should only be done under medical supervision and pressure garments become like a second skin as they have to be worn continuously before the underlying scar will heal.

Acne scar treatment can be done using various different procedures depending on how severe are the skin damage due to acne. There is no single way of how to get rid of scars and no scar will disappear completely. No matter how careful a surgeon is surgery scars, tummy tuck scars and plastic surgery scars may be quite unnoticeable as the surgeon takes great care in stitching back the skin in its closest possible form.