Can The Track Marks From My Facial Scar Be Removed?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I have a scar in the middle of my eyebrows that has bad indents from stitches that look like a train track. Can scar revision fix these indents?

A: When referring to indents, it appears you are talking about the stitch marks which are often called ‘train tracks’ or ‘train-tracking’. These are the result of using sutures that are too big for the face, leaving sutures in too long, or a combination of both. What they are is the healed indentations from where the sutures went into the skin and the skin healed around them. While all sutures have the potential to develop these dots or indentations, large sutures leave little round white holes and sutures that have been left in way too long can have these hole which are indented.

These train track scar marks can be difficult to remove since they lie outide of the existing scar, making wide scar revision often not possible. This leaves the option of removing the track marks iindividually through small punch excisions. This may make it possible to improve the indented nature of theae marks but there will always be a small white scar from the original or new hole. I wowuld have to see a picture of how bad these marks to determine of there is any worthwhile treatment option.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana