What this site is for
It exists for the moment a patient looks at a scar and cannot tell which of the things she is seeing matter. Some of them do not: redness, firmness and itch in the first months are the scar being rebuilt. Some of them do: infection, a wound that opens, a scar that grows beyond the wound, and a scar that tightens until it restricts movement. Telling those apart is what this site is for.
What it deliberately does not do
It does not claim that any product, device or operation removes a scar, because none does. It does not name brands of drugs or devices: treatments are described by substance and technology class only. It does not quote prices or dosages, and it does not publish an emergency telephone number, a room number or a set of opening hours of its own.
The facts kept visible
Three facts are repeated wherever they are relevant. A scar is a normal result of healing rather than a complication. A scar continues to change for twelve months or more, so its early appearance is not its final appearance. And treatment changes a scar rather than removing it — which is why the standard a treatment can be judged by is whether the scar is less troublesome than it was.
How the content is reviewed and corrected
Tongchun Mao, MD, Deputy Director and Head of Aesthetic Surgery, is the responsible physician. Every guide is reviewed against his clinical judgement before publication and reviewed again on a six-month cycle. If you find something unclear, out of date or wrong, the contact page explains how to tell us, and corrections are made to the page itself.