HealthLinks Upstate July/August 2022

46 | www.Ups tatePhys i c i ansSC . com | www.Hea l thL i nksUps tate. com Pretend you are considering facial surgery to change your aesthetics or to correct damage due to injury or treatment of skin cancer. While you will face a number of variables on how you want to look, how much you want done and who to use for the surgery, one constant in the process is that you will have a surgical scar. For the past 32 years, Dr. Marcelo Hochman has been helping patients of all ages and needs not only to get new looks but also to keep their surgical scars hidden and unnoticeable. “We all want to look our best,” said Dr. Hochman, who is the owner of The Facial Surgery Center in Mount Pleasant and also is double-board-certified in facial plastic and head/neck reconstructive surgery. “And a goal in facial surgery is to camouflage the best possible scar.” There are two different types of facial scars. For example, suppose your face has been scarred by disease or injury. Dr. Hochman and his team would guide you through the process of reconstructive surgery. “If a scar is from an injury, then we’re starting with a cut in the skin which is not planned,” Dr. Hochman said. “It may be irregular or bruised, and there may be things about it that impact the way the incision heals.” How quickly a reconstructive scar heals can depend on its size and the amount of surgery. The scar could heal within a week, but, if you require a skin graft, the healing could take several weeks. “But any time the skin is injured or a cut is made into the skin, it heals in the same fashion – by producing a scar,” Dr. Hochman said. FACIAL SCARRING: HEALING AND HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT By L. C. Leach III

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