I’ve been staring at my ACL reconstruction scar for a while now. Each time my Mom washes my legs and changes my compression socks. I stare at it because I remember being SO concerned after I first had my first knee surgery. I was just 17 and afraid the scar was going to be quite unsightly. I asked the nurse who took my stitches out if I was going to stay as angry red as it was. She told me it would fade to white most likely.
I remember asking her what I could do to ensure that that happens. She told me that for the first spring and summer and every time I was outside, I should cover it with Balmex. So, as soon as I was cleared to drive, I drove to CVS by my house and bought a tube. Each time I was outside, I squirted the tube onto my knee like I was loading my toothbrush quite amply with toothpaste.
It has faded to a white now, some 20 years later. I also have two dots, one on either side of the scar that were the ports for the scopes they used in my surgery. Those also have faded to white, almost barely visible. Now, after having meniscus repair surgery and a Tenex Procedure also done on that day, I have two more port scars, just two extra darts and I also have a port scar on the inside of my shin. It’s going on three years since I’ve had that surgery and I have taken no precautions with the scarring because I wear compression socks all day so no one can see anything and scarring is it important to me anymore.
I stared at my knee when my Mom washed my leg and I have decided that all of my scars, they all look the same. I think about how different I am now than I was when I first had my first surgery and how I am not afraid of any scarring. Sometimes, I kind of wish stuff like that still mattered but now that I’m older, I know it doesn’t.
Regardless of precautions I took with my first knee surgery and not taking any precautions with my second knee surgery and with my Tenex procedure, they all look the same!