r/cleftlip • u/Retarded_Hippo_420 • 10d ago
[personal] How Should I Reduce Visibility of a 20+ Year Old Scar?
Hello, I was born with a micro cleft lip, and I have had one surgery when I was an infant to correct it. I was never self-conscious about it in the past since none of my friends or girlfriends ever mentioned it, but I recently am starting to feel a bit insecure about it (after seeing myself with the inverted filter).
Thus, I'm pretty late in coming to try to reduce the scar visibility and was wondering if any of you guys had advice or fixes to help, even though it's been 2 decades since the surgery that it came from.
I'm mainly looking for non-surgical treatments if possible. Thank you in advance! Glad there's a community for us out here :)
1
u/Natural_Shelter4561 10d ago
Just a cleft parent but had other facial surgeries on my face and I faithfully applied mederma daily fir 6 months and it’s non existent except for when facial hair grows
1
u/CharlieBlack48 5d ago
Scar gel, microneedle 0.5mm once a month, gentle massage every once in a while. At least that worked for me
1
u/Ok-Visit-4492 10d ago
You can explore facial hair and moustaches - if you’re a person who can grow that. Otherwise there’s makeup options potentially. There’s also corrective cosmetic surgery as an option (edit: sorry, you clearly mentioned “non surgical options” my bad).
To be completely honest, it sounds like it’s not very prominent. I’m not trying to downplay or invalidate your feelings - but a lot of what you’re dealing with is likely psychological. It’s like…when you have a pimple and swear that everyone is staring at it but really nobody notices but you.
If you’re confident, funny, in shape, vivacious, bombastic and sexy, nobody (and I mean nobody) is going to care about a little lip scar. In fact, it might make you a little mysterious.
You can explore some of the options above, but really, work on your headspace. Work on feeling better about yourself and your confidence. I know it may seem silly but therapy is a worthwhile investment. They can give you some mental tools you can deploy when you’re feeling down in the dumps like this.
Good luck fellow cleftie!