Scars are often souvenirs of past surgeries or painful injuries. Cosmetically masking them is usually time consuming and costly and may even ironically involve surgery and long periods of recuperation. One alternative option to removing scars is acupuncture. Acupuncture is a very effective treatment for pain and other conditions that cause pain and dysfunctions in the body.
What are scars?
Whenever the body experiences a cut, tear or rupture on the lower, middle or upper layer of the epidermis, the skin needs to go through cellular regeneration to repair the damaged area. Most of the time during this process, the new skin may be unable to form perfectly thus causing the scarring. Factors such as the size of the wound, the direction of the scar, the location of the wound, and the manner in which the wound was inflicted will determine the severity and type of the scar incurred.
What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a three thousand year old Chinese medical procedure that involves the use of extremely thin needles inserted at certain points on the skin to provide relief of symptoms and pain. This procedure works on the principle of energy or qi movement along energy pathways known as meridians. When qi flow is blocked along a meridian, it generates pain and illness. Acupuncture treatment is applied to clear the blockages to allow qi to freely flow once more which then leads to symptomatic relief of the illness and/or pain. Acupuncture treatment works the same way when it comes to removing scars.
Scars most of the time are annoying because they are unsightly and ugly features of the body. However, there are scars that can cause serious physiological dysfunctions and thus need to be addressed. Scars that are sensitive to the touch may be signs of energy and/or blood stagnation and needs to be treated. If you have such scars on the stomach, back, scalp, neck or face you need to seek treatment as they might involve the major energy pathways in those parts of the body.
Procedure
Acupuncture treatment for scar removal involves the insertion of acupuncture needles into certain points along the scar. This causes blood flow to increase in this area which helps break down the scar tissue and dead skin cells and activates the lymphatic system to help remove these dead cells. Treatment may require a few to several treatment sessions that gradually lessen the scar until it completely disappears.
Cindy Chamberlain is a licensed acupuncturist and a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Eastern Healing Solutions, LLC in Overland Park, KS.