Massaging scars timeline
probably a dumb question but feeling nervous at 3 am
I'm 2 days short of being 6 weeks post op. The 'average' timeline for recovery says I can start doing scar care at 3 weeks. I checked with my surgery team, they said wait until all my scabbing is gone before I start. Cool, good, sounds normal and understandable.
Spend the next few weeks applying bactitracin and petroleum jelly to scars like I do to my nipples, keep an eye on my scabbing, etc etc. Now at (almost) 6 weeks, I have 3 little spots of scabbing remaining, but the rest of my scars are feeling tight and dry, and I really want to start doing scar care. I won't have my next follow up til next week, and my team is really bad about responding to messages, so asking feels pointless.
Is it okay to start massaging parts of my scars with no scabbing, so long as I make sure to avoid the still scabbed parts? Or should I leave it all entirely alone until absolutely everything is fully healed and scabs are gone? I have some dehiscence on one side that ofc I would be leaving entirely alone massage wise, but that complicates the timeline as a whole, which is my biggest concern.
tldr; can I massage my healed scars so long as I leave the small spots with scabbing (tiny, not joined, 3 spots) alone?