My hand job
Posted by John Gustafson at 14:31 on 17 Oct 2007 scars, surgery, hands, hand cream
As a makeup artist, my hands are one of my most valuable tools. So it was with something akin to horror that about a year ago a funny little growth appeared on the back on one of them. Sort of looked like a wart right in the fleshy padding between my thumb and forefinger on the most visible part of my right hand. The most obvious place
possible. I ran off to the doctor to be assured that it was simply an excess growth of skin and was nothing to worry about. Well, nothing other than it was ugly as hell and was right in the place that was on display any time I demonstrated a product, had my hand reflected in a mirror while showing someone how to apply their face, or was front and centre on camera when filming. So…nothing to worry about then! The hard little blob was about the size of half a pea and was an attractive shade of reddish purple. The doctor suggested a surgical consult and having it sliced off. “Don’t worry, the scar will only be about an inch long.†Aaahhhh! An inch long scar on the back of my hand sounded just as bad as the blob being there. You see; I have taken care of my hands better than almost any woman I have met because they ARE such an important part of what I do. I have to wash them dozens of times a day and I am constantly applying products on women’s skins and blending colours in a very intimate way. I like that they are smooth and callous free. They are, dare I say, pretty hands. I have always liked them. Now I am faced with a choice between an ugly lump or 3/4 inch long scar. A rock and a hard place. Not happy. At all.
My doctor requested a specialist consultation for me. But I went another route. Quite a few years back, I had an impressive experience with a procedure called radio surgery. It uses an electrical impulse passed through a wire loop to melt away things like colourless moles and skin tags without leaving any scarring. I had a large colourless mole behind my right ear that had been there since I was a kid but I had never had anything done about it. I really couldn’t see it anyway, plus again, I didn’t want to be left with the scar that is associated with the removal of something that was, once again, the size of half of a large pea. But after assurances that there would be no mark of any kind, I decided to have it done. And what an amazing thing! Two weeks later and the mole was gone and there was, and is, no sign that it was ever there. I was thrilled. So I went back to that surgeon and asked if this could give me a smooth hand again without leaving a mark. Of course it could. Hooray! So I cancelled my appointment for the slice and dice consultation and booked myself in to have the radio surgery done. Everything went really well. He asked me if he could do a five pence piece sized area around the lump to ensure there would not be a dip where the lump was removed. With utter confidence I said to do whatever needed to be done. Several weeks later when the crusty bits came off, I was left with a smooth hand – but there was still a red mark where the original bump had been. But I kept my fingers crossed…it was early days. Over the next month or so, the bump was growing back. It looked nearly like it did before the procedure with one minor deviation: the radio signal had killed off the pigment in the five pence piece sized area around it. Now I had the same lump with a huge white patch framing it!
The practitioner told me he would have another go at it. I declined. Naturally. With my tail between my legs, I slunk back to my GP. He is a great guy and offered to do the consult again. I told him of my fear of scarring and he offered me a consultation with a plastic surgeon instead. Heartened, I went for the appointment a month or so later. I explained to the surgeon exactly what I did for a living and why it was important for me to get this done well. He told me that to get rid of the lump and the huge white patch, they would now have to take out a very large area of skin and that the scar would be a minimum of an inch to an inch and a quarter! Moreover, if I was expecting a nice tidy hairline scar, I was in for a world of disappointment. Because it was on the thick part of the back of my hand – right where my thumb moves - the scar would be likely to stretch. He said I might get the scar I wanted but I might end up with a scar that is as wide as the original mark and it could be red and raised. And it would be at least that inch long. I was mortified. The atmosphere was lightened a bit when he told me he could book me an appointment with a makeup artist to teach me how I could camouflage the mark or the scar! I asked him if he had heard what I do for a living at all. I guess not. Then he asked if I had ever heard of semi-permanent makeup tattooing which could re-colour the white mark and just leave the lump. For the third time I told him what I did for a living! When I stopped giggling he said he would do the surgery but it would not be something he would personally recommend that I do. I understood the warning but I am sure you have all had something that has really bothered you about your appearance at one time or another. This was beyond merely bothering me. So a plan was set out. I would have the surgery and to prevent the scar stretching, we would do multiple layers of dissolving stitches and I would wear tapes whenever I was not working for up to a year. Damage limitation.
So next Friday is the big day. I am really lucky as I deal with so my pre and post-operative cosmetic surgery patients that I have been preparing the area for the last month and a half. I thought I would quickly share with you what I had been doing to minimise the trauma of the procedure and get my skin ready to heal as quickly and efficiently as it can. Hopefully it will make it so I will have the scar that I want: discreet, tidy, and virtually invisible. Being that a body cycle is 28 days, I have been treating the area now for very close to two full months. I have an arsenal of products nearby that are ready to use to speed healing and I will give you an update as to how it all went. These are things I would always advise client to try before any surgical procedure and have almost always been told by both my clients and their practitioners that the skin has healed much more quickly then anticipated and the effects of the surgery have been amazing. Now it is my chance to find out for myself.
I began by finding out exactly where the incision was going to be made. In that are and the entire back of my hand, I have been using a hand cream with the ability to increase cellular renewal. I want the skin working at its optimum. I have enjoyed Dr. Sebagh’s High Maintenance Hand Cream and Sisley’s Sisleya Global Anti-Ageing Hand Cream. And as you will all know from the hype surrounding the Boot’s Serum, Vitamin A has been proven to increase cell turnover. So I use the Roc Retinol Hand Cream once a day as well. I tried a lot of other vitamin A serums like Natura Bisse Hydra A too…underneath them, but not as regularly. Next, I did pure vitamin E capsules. This vitamin helps promote healing. I puncture the little capsule and massage the oil directly into the area. I am trying to get all of my skin’s natural repair functions in the vicinity of the incision before the incision is ever made. I have also been exfoliating my hands several times a day. I wanted the skin to be smooth and as hydrated as it can be since I will not be able to apply things while the wound is open.
Once the wound has set, I will begin with the post surgical items. I have hundreds of butterfly tapes to keep the skin from stretching in any way. How I am going to work with these I am not quite sure – but I am going to try! If it proves too difficult, I will just put them on when I am not with clients. I am sure if the scar was in an area not so visible that I would do it constantly. I have a bottle of pure organic rosehip oil on hand (no pun intended). This natural oil once again speeds skin healing. Most importantly, I have several sheets of polymer gel bandage. This sort of plaster was originally used to heal burns, but has been proven to reduce scarring by as much as 90%. The sheets are cut to size and then worn as much and as often as you can. Each bit can be used for about a month and it is washable too. The gel seals to the skin naturally and it has been impregnated with vitamins and ceramides essential to skin healing. Once the skin has sealed to the plaster, it starts to recognise the polymer gel as its outer barrier. When that happens, the ingredients flood the skin without anything to stop them penetrating. You can get several brands at your nearest chemist – Savlon Active Heal, CicaCare by Smith & Nephew, and Boots even have their own. I also have pots and potions from Osmotics that have been founded in the wound closure part of the medical world like their amazing Blue Copper 5. So I am ready. I think. I will let you know in a couple of weeks how it went and what it was like. I will also let you know if all of this preparation really did help to speed things up and make the scar as minimal as possible. I keep my fingers crossed…but not so tightly that they pull the skin on the back of my hand! Have a good week…
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