Scar massage for hypertrophic burns scarring

Scar massage is used in burn units globally to improve functional and cosmetic outcomes of hypertrophic scarring (a condition with deposits of excessive amounts of collagen which gives rise to a raised scar) following a burn, however, the scientific evidence to support this therapy is not well established. Researchers from Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Australia recently conducted a literature review to assess the efficacy of scar massage in hypertrophic burn scars.The study was published in a journal called Burns.

Research databases were searched and articles were scored according to the weight of the evidence. As a result, eight publications were selected in the review with a total of 258 human participants and 15 animal subjects who received scar massage following a thermal injury resulting in hypertrophic scarring. Outcome measures that demonstrated that scar massage was effective included scar thickness as measured with ultrasonography; depression (Centre for Epidemiologic Studies — Depression [CES-D]); pain as measured with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)and scar characteristics including vascularity, pliability and scar height. Outcome measures that trended towards significance included a decrease in pruritus (unpleasant sensation of the skin that provokes the urge to scratch).

The authors concluded that there is preliminary evidence to suggest that scar massage may be effective to decrease scar height, vascularity, pliability, pain, pruritus and depression in hypertrophic burns scaring. The authors, as usual, pointed out the poor quality of evidence and lack of consistent and valid scar assessment tools.