Only do that if your goal is to have a bigger scar in its place.

When I was 14 I had a 2-3mm scar on my forearm. I didn’t like how it looked, so I took some toenail clippers and clipped off the scar tissue. Now I have a 4-5mm scar. I can’t believe I did it, and thinking about it now makes me cringe. But there’s a data point for you.

I don’t have an answer for you, but something to consider.

Plastic surgeons go to school for many years to perfect their trade. I suspect, like most medical professionals, something like scar reduction is a specialized area of study that is not all that common.

We know that professionals are able to reduce the appearance of scars. I’d bet good money that it is not something just anyone could do successfully.

Number one, self surgery is for idiots and/or masochists. This is coming from an idiot that doesn’t mind doing his own stitches and minor procedures.

But, no, even a trained surgeon can’t guarantee an improvement on scar tissue. And by improvement, I only mean making it smaller/less visible. To the contrary, the more you fuck with scar tissue, the worse it gets usually. You can sometimes achieve reductions in size, and there’s times when scars that impinge on mobility can be altered the reduce that problem.

But it’s never a sure thing at all. There’s the risk with mobility impairment that it could get worse.

I’m a fair hand at stitches, have access to suture kits and fancy gear to do the cutting, and I still wouldn’t fuck with my scars if it wasn’t life or death. Well, or if I wanted them to look different; I actually dig my visible scars, but it might be nice to change the details I guess.

For one thing, have you ever tried to sew one handed? Because at some point in the process, you’ll have to if you’re working on your own body. You can’t both suture and keep a wound closed enough to prevent a giant mess and blood loss.

With that kind of limitation in place, you aren’t going to do good sutures at all, even if you were trained. If you were a plastic surgeon, you would do better than a random asshole like me, but you couldn’t do your best work.

Cutting down the middle of the scar, btw, is about the worst way to go about it. That can work for “loosening” a scar that’s drawn the surrounding tissues tight, but you have to plan the approach right or it can get worse instead.

Generally, if you were to do what you’re suggesting, the most likely outcome is the scar getting bigger because of the way scars form.

My hands hurt, so rather than typing it up my way, Here’s the web md version which is okay as general overview, so it won’t really get deep into what you’re specifically asking about, but you should be able to extrapolate.

If the scar is new, massaging it frequently (using some type of serum or oil to reduce friction) can help reduce the size and how much it is raised.

If it’s more than a year post-injury, only a plastic surgeon could help.

(Info from brief training on scar management in grad school and doctor’s advice after having stitches.)

I know nothing about the medical issues involved, but my gut is telling me that this is a horrifically bad idea.

I would place a bet on “makes it worse” right now.

Dermatologists have some kind of magic shot that makes them go away. The top of my shoulder was covered in a nasty, lumpy scar from a childhood injury. After 2 rounds of shots and a few years time, you can only tell it was there because it tans different than the surrounding skin.

The scar will get much larger.

To remove scars they cut all the scar and some healthy skin off and graft new skin over it.

Anything you do with a knife will make it worse. But scars fade, especially if it’s less than a year old it will get much better with you doing nothing. Use tea tree oil if you’re really worried.

IIRC, scarring ocurrs because it’s new tissue created by the body patching up the cut naturally. If anything, I think trying to surgically remove the scar this way would just make it worse.

This sounds like a plan to intentionally widen a scar.

I got some “scar tape” it’s a silicone mesh tape thing that’s suppose to reduce the look of the scar.

The scar I was trying to deal with is on my hand so I don’t use it as much as it says and I don’t actually know if it works but I would say you should look into it.

I’m not an expert, but I remember reading about a technique called z-plasty which plastic surgeons can use to help reduce the appearance of scars. Not exactly what you’re (hopefully theoretically) asking about, but this does involve re-opening the original scar.

It will certainly not affect the existing scar tissue, if anything, the new wound will scar at worst, and heal with no new scar tissue at best.

if wound a wounded place, does it heal?

Will the scar get smaller or bigger?

Much larger. Don’t do this.

If you’re willing to go through all that, though, consider microneedling.

It’s basically tattooing without ink.