It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small 😎

❝I had a surgery 7 months ago, and while everything is healed there’s more of a raised scar than I’d like, is there anything better than just moisturizes that will actually reduce it?❞

First of all: congratulations on your presumably successful surgery, and your good healing since!

Scar management/reduction is mostly a matter of helping your body to heal itself, except for the most extreme cases. We will assume yours is not one of the extreme cases, and as such we are discounting the possibility of a revisional surgery being on your to-do list, and will focus on gentler approaches.

With that in mind…

First, limit any further scarring

By this we don’t mean “avoid future surgeries and injuries”, though of course, also do that if reasonably possible. But we do mean:

Yes, moisturize first and moisturize often.

The reason this is important is because scar tissue loses water faster than normal tissue, and tissue that is not hydrated properly cannot function properly and certainly cannot heal properly.

As for what moisturizer is best for this: something that’s actually hydrating.

So, put aside the coconut oil, the castor oil, or anything else like that. Instead, opt for a moisturizer that has:

1. water as its main ingredient
2. glycerin and urea high on the list after water

As usual, we’re not just saying things; there has been research done about this, for example:

Commonly recommended moisturising products: effect on transepidermal water loss and hydration in a scar model

The top-scoring moisturizer in that study, by the way, was Eucerin Advanced Repair Cream ← you can get it on Amazon if you want some 😎

Next, encourage your body to heal itself

Your body is an incredibly efficient organism. It might not always feel like it, but it is!

However, this efficiency can sometimes manifest as a sort of thriftiness, that is to say, your body usually won’t voluntarily do more than it thinks necessary; it has its own idea of what is “good enough”, and after that point, it won’t “waste” further resources on it unless you give it a reason to.

We see this with muscle-building, for example. Your body will not put on more muscle in a given place unless you are exerting that muscle sufficiently that the body thinks “hmm, we need more muscle there”.

When it comes to scar healing, the same principle applies. So far as the body is concerned, “we’ve closed the wound, you’re not bleeding, there is no further chance of infection, it doesn’t hurt, what more do you want from me?”

So, it will be necessary to provoke the body into getting back into “healing things” mode.

So, paradoxically, it will be necessary to create a perceived threat for the body to respond to. Options include:

• Microneedling / dermarolling: these are basically the same thing, except that the former is automated and the latter is manual. It pokes many very tiny holes in the skin; the body detects this and shifts back into “healing this bit” mode. Here’s an example microneedling kit on Amazon, and here’s a dermaroller if you prefer a low-tech approach.
• Phototherapy: includes red light therapy (RLT), which there’s a lot of science for in terms of how it promotes wound healing and stimulates collagen production; we’ve written about it before, here. However, while previously we recommended a RLT mask, that’s probably not a good option unless the scar is on your face, so you might consider a red light therapy mat, instead. That link’s for quite a deluxe one; if you want something smaller and cheaper, then perhaps this one. Laser therapy may also be an option (works exactly the same way as RLT, but is more localized and more intense), but for safety reasons that’s more of an in-salon thing, so you might want to check with local salons to see what’s available. Honestly, unless you want to throw a lot of money at salon sessions, an at-home RLT kit (even if springing for an expensive one) is the more economic choice for most people, as a “buy it once and then it’s yours” option, rather than the more ongoing “pay every time” situation of “give a salon a financial incentive to never quite finish treating you”.
• Retinoids: these promote (to varying degrees, depending on which you opt for) localized inflammation, which in turn promotes more rapid skin cell turnover, and thus, more rapid skin repair. There are a variety of options here, so here’s a guide for choosing the one that’s best for you: Retinoids: Retinol vs Retinal vs Retinoic Acid vs..?
• Topical vitamin C: if you use this and a retinoid, it’s usually recommended to use vitamin C in the morning and the retinoid in the evening, as they don’t go well together, and since retinoids temporarily increase photosensitivity, it’s best to use that one at night. If you use it alone, you might want to do it at night, for reasons covered amongst the professional tips shared in: Is Vitamin C Worth The Hype?
• Collagen supplementation: assuming you’re not vegetarian/vegan, collagen supplementation may be worth considering. If you are vegetarian/vegan, don’t worry, your body can make its own collagen; you’ll just want to make sure you’re taking extra care to give your body plenty of the things it needs to do that, so check out: The Best Foods For Collagen Production

You may be wondering about silicon sheets, and topical collagen:

• Silicon sheets have drawbacks as mentioned in the study we linked in the first part
• As for topical collagen, we could find no strong science to support its use: Are Collagen Molecules Too Big To Be Absorbed?

Take care, and happy healing!

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small

We had several requests pertaining to veganism, meatless mondays, and substitutions in recipes—so we’re going to cover those on a different day!

As for questions we’re answering today…

Q: Is there any data on immediate and long term effects of running marathons in one’s forties?

An interesting and very specific question! We didn’t find an overabundance of studies specifically for the short- and long-term effects of marathon-running in one’s 40s, but we did find a couple of relevant ones:

The first looked at marathon-runners of various ages, and found that…

• there are virtually no relevant running time differences (p<0.01) per age in marathon finishers from 20 to 55 years
• the majority of middle-aged and elderly athletes have training histories of less than seven years of running

From which they concluded:

❝The present findings strengthen the concept that considers aging as a biological process that can be considerably speeded up or slowed down by multiple lifestyle related factors.❞

See the study: Performance, training and lifestyle parameters of marathon runners aged 20–80 years: results of the PACE-study

The other looked specifically at the impact of running on cartilage, controlled for age (45 and under vs 46 and older) and activity level (marathon-runners vs sedentary people).

The study had the people, of various ages and habitual activity levels, run for 30 minutes, and measured their knee cartilage thickness (using MRI) before and after running.

They found that regardless of age or habitual activity level, running compressed the cartilage tissue to a similar extent. From this, it can be concluded that neither age nor marathon-running result in long-term changes to cartilage response to running.

Or in lay terms: there’s no reason that marathon-running at 40 should ruin your knees (unless you are doing something wrong).

That may or may not have been a concern you have, but it’s what the study looked at, so hey, it’s information.

Here’s the study: Functional cartilage MRI T2 mapping: evaluating the effect of age and training on knee cartilage response to running

Q: Information on [e-word] dysfunction for those who have negative reactions to [the most common medications]?

When it comes to that particular issue, one or more of these three factors are often involved:

• Hormones
• Circulation
• Psychology

The most common drugs (that we can’t name here) work on the circulation side of things—specifically, by increasing the localized blood pressure. The exact mechanism of this drug action is interesting, albeit beyond the scope of a quick answer here today. On the other hand, the way that they work can cause adverse blood-pressure-related side effects for some people; perhaps you’re one of them.

To take matters into your own hands, so to speak, you can address each of those three things we just mentioned:

Hormones

Ask your doctor (or a reputable phlebotomy service) for a hormone test. If your free/serum testosterone levels are low (which becomes increasingly common in men over the age of 45), they may prescribe something—such as testosterone shots—specifically for that.

This way, it treats the underlying cause, rather than offering a workaround like those common pills whose names we can’t mention here.

Circulation

Look after your heart health; eat for your heart health, and exercise regularly!

Cold showers/baths also work wonders for vascular tone—which is precisely what you need in this matter. By rapidly changing temperatures (such as by turning off the hot water for the last couple of minutes of your shower, or by plunging into a cold bath), your blood vessels will get practice at constricting and maintaining that constriction as necessary.

Psychology

[E-word] dysfunction can also have a psychological basis. Unfortunately, this can also then be self-reinforcing, if recalling previous difficulties causes you to get distracted/insecure and lose the moment. One of the best things you can do to get out of this catch-22 situation is to not worry about it in the moment. Depending on what you and your partner(s) like to do in bed, there are plenty of other equally respectable options, so just switch track!

Having a conversation about this in advance will probably be helpful, so that everyone’s on the same page of the script in that eventuality, and it becomes “no big deal”. Without that conversation, misunderstandings and insecurities could arise for your partner(s) as well as yourself (“aren’t I desirable enough?” etc).

So, to recap, we recommend:

• Have your hormones checked
• Look after your circulation
• Make the decision to have fun!