Facial injury- reducing scarring? (Gory picture)

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sheep

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My bf's mare somehow cut her face quite seriously this morning- not exactly sure how she did it as she was in the stable at the time and no obvious signs of what happened (he was at the yard at the time and realised immediately). Vet has been out, wound has been stitched and stapled.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips about how to reduce scarring and encourage regrowth of hair once the wound has started to heal? Obviously it is still very new and sore so I imagine this is something that would need to be done once it has started to knit together more?

Any other tips for dealing with this kind of injury also welcome! Any ideas about what can be done when it inevitably starts to get itchy after a few days?

To show the extent of the injury- (it has since been sprayed with aluspray)

imag0544e.jpg
 
Many years ago we had a WelshDx TB who cut her leg in the field, quite deep and in an awkward place. The vet decided against stitching, so instead left us to flush it out twice a day. We left her living out and used an empty supplement bucket to carry the warm salt water to the field. The supplement was garlic and the bucket still smelled very strongly of it. The wound healed well and no white hair grew, she was a bay roan with black stockings, the only thing was that the roaning above the stocking was a bit darker at the site of the scar. It isn't a scientific test or anything of the sort, but it worked for us and we always use garlic as well as salt in any wound cleaning.
 
My horse has had bone flap surgery & several other surgeries using trephine holes, we had a lot of wound breakdown(common after these surgeries). I used medical grade Manuka honey with dressings over the top with amazing results. He has some small scars & white hairs but considering what he looked like after surgery he looks pretty amazing now!
 
Maunuka honey ( as others say ) then Camrosa to make the hair grow back in.
Silver based sprays help at the beginning as well. Also make sure your horse does not get too stressed and keep her on a good quality diet. xx
 
Where's the gory before picture? I'm all disappointed now.

That does look like the Vet did a lovely, neat job though. :)

Pressure is very good for wound healing, but that location doesn't make it an option.

My grey ripped her chest very badly when she was young and she had the deepest bits stapled together. It was a real mess, but it all healed beautifully. The healing process is quite remarkable really. :)
 
18 Months ago my then 17yo gelding ripped his face open and required 44 stitches.He healed brilliantly and is scar free, i left it to heal naturally and didn't put anything on it.
 
Manuka honey. My youngster ripped his chest open which was stitched but did break down. It looked as though there was going to be masses of proud flesh and scarring. It was a complete mess. I slathered it in Manuka honey and today you'd never know he'd done it.
 
Dermatix - I've used it on my own face, as prescribed by my plastic surge, and used the left overs on an injury my mare did to her nose. It's not cheap, but it does work.
 
Like Barney and Buzz'z horse, my horse made a complete mess of here face including smashing the bone into the nasal cavity, it was also clipped and the scar was in a similar place to your horses as she was a show horse my vet was a little worried about any scarring and advised me to use the large scar reduction plasters available for humans.
We had problems down the line and it had to be re-opened to removed all the bone chips and a huge hinged bone flap the first vet had missed (not my vet an emergency one) and also have a drain fitted.
I didn't use the plasters and it healed beautifully on its own, all the hair grew back and very very little scarring.
Good luck.
 
My TB mare did something similar about 10 years ago. Brought her in from the field with the injury. Still have no idea to this day how she did it (we trawled the field for clues but found none.) Vet stapled it similarly to your boy and without any treatment (apart from the powdered antibiotics for the first few days) it healed beautifully and you'd never know it had happened. Fingers crossed for your boy. It's amazing how well these sorts of injuries/wounds on the face can heal.
 
Ive found CutHeal to be amazing stuff. I used it on a really nasty deep cut (mare tore it on a barbed wire fence and it couldnt be stitched as it was on a joint) and amazingly it didnt scar after using this and healed up really quickly. There wasnt even white hair left. I love it, although it does make the hair fall out round about where you put it on so you need to try and put it on carefully.
 
Don't use Manukau honey, it's for granulating wounds.

My mare had about 20 staples in her head after a terrible kick. Her skull was exposed :(:o

I left it alone, have her plenty of rest & did not ride for a few weeks. I just left it & when it began to heal I put megatek rebuilder on it to encourage hair growth ( as she had to have her forelock shaved off by the vet)I also made sure I limited the amount of things she could rub herself on in stable when it became itchy. Not sure if the megatek was a coincidence bit she has absolutely no scar whatsoever?! Web even been out showing successfully this year which I thought would never happen. Pleased to bits :D hope your horse is well soon ;)
 
elsazzo said:
Don't use Manukau honey, it's for granulating wounds.
Click to expand...

So sorry OP- poor horse. Sorry no advice on this - just wanted to ask elsazzo about the manuka honey.
My mare has a proud incisional scar from her tendon operation on her inner hind fetlock. She keeps catching the scar presumably this was how she injured the tendon to start with - but fetlock boots protect it when she is ridden. I need to reduce the scar tissue to stop it being grazed open - is it too late now to use manuka honey to reduce the proud scar do you think please?
 
Don't use Manukau honey, it's for granulating wounds.

My mare had about 20 staples in her head after a terrible kick. Her skull was exposed :(:o

I left it alone, have her plenty of rest & did not ride for a few weeks. I just left it & when it began to heal I put megatek rebuilder on it to encourage hair growth ( as she had to have her forelock shaved off by the vet)I also made sure I limited the amount of things she could rub herself on in stable when it became itchy. Not sure if the megatek was a coincidence bit she has absolutely no scar whatsoever?! Web even been out showing successfully this year which I thought would never happen. Pleased to bits :D hope your horse is well soon ;)
 
Sounds very similar elsazzo, hopefully this girlie will be on the mend soon! Feel very sorry for her, she was very suspicious and headshy this morning, probably painkillers wearing off, but she's dosed up again with plenty of hay to keep her entertained. Anyone also have any tips for box resting rather highly strung types..?!
 
I cant see the pictures, but if it helps i know Bio Oil is very got for helping reduce scarring for us so may help. Im sure its pretty natural. Maybe worth looking into. Hope shes ok
 
the vets can provide a steroid cream to encourage hair regrowth and reduce swelling - taz had it although im not sure why when he had removed all the hair folicles when he removed the bulb of his heel :o but it has worked on other scarring :) cant remember what its called though:( sorry
 
whizzer said:
My horse has had bone flap surgery & several other surgeries using trephine holes, we had a lot of wound breakdown(common after these surgeries). I used medical grade Manuka honey with dressings over the top with amazing results. He has some small scars & white hairs but considering what he looked like after surgery he looks pretty amazing now!
Click to expand...

Defo this.....you will be amazed at how well facial injuries heal and how little scarring there will be....
Virtual Polos from me to her...
Best of luck
Bryndu :)
 
I had a filly with cracked nasal bone, took all the skin off her face and left and nice flap too. I'll link to photos since it's pretty big and a bit gory. We went for stitches+sunblock+flyspray, and washing off in salt water for the most part, and it healed very nicely.
http://i48.tinypic.com/23468l.png
 
RealityCheck said:
I had a filly with cracked nasal bone, took all the skin off her face and left and nice flap too. I'll link to photos since it's pretty big and a bit gory. We went for stitches+sunblock+flyspray, and washing off in salt water for the most part, and it healed very nicely.
http://i48.tinypic.com/23468l.png
Click to expand...

That's amazing.

What a nasty injury, but it healed so well. You'd never know that it had happened at all.
 
RealityCheck said:
I had a filly with cracked nasal bone, took all the skin off her face and left and nice flap too. I'll link to photos since it's pretty big and a bit gory. We went for stitches+sunblock+flyspray, and washing off in salt water for the most part, and it healed very nicely.
http://i48.tinypic.com/23468l.png
Click to expand...

Wow- that looks really fantastic. Let's hope Coop's face heals as nicely and she's back to her pretty self soon. Hoping it doesn't heal with white hairs, otherwise she will look rather unusual!

Also Faracat, sorry my 'before' picture isn't detailed enough- unfortunately the bf is notoriously squeamish and had to get someone else to take the pictures- I assure you the flap of skin was flopping about and covering her eye at times :eek:
 
OP, although it may look horrific to you, it's not actually a particularly bad wound in the grand scheme of things and your vet has done a lovely job of stitching/stapling it back together :) I'd leave it be. It should heal without any problems.
 
Oh wow op, that's nasty :( cleanly done by the vet though! Manuka honey, good old cornucrescine, bio oil or palmers cocoa butter reduces scarring, I have no experience with camrosa, and would never use it on sarcoids but for cuts like this I hear it is spoken highly of, I have however heard that it has some pretty scary ingredients so double check what's in it before you use it :)
 
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