Are you noticing a dark, rough patch of skin on your face that is making it look ugly and want to immediately get rid of it?
This is most probably a scab, a protective skin tissue that develops over your skin once as a result of your body’s natural phenomenon to protect and heal your skin, once it gets damaged.Â
However, if not taken care of properly, they would not only cause pain but can take quite a long time to heal themselves which, for sure, is very embarrassing.
But the question is, how to get rid of these scabs quickly and how to heal them as fast as possible to save you from that pain and embarrassment?
What’s a scab?
Have you ever got a cut or scrape your body skin and you find after a few days a blood clot forms and it hardens into a solid crust on your wound area.
That is actually a scab that acts as a protection for skin tissue regenerating itself underneath it from germs and harmful bacteria to bring out new healthy skin tissues at the spot of a wound as it heals.
Although scabs make you look ugly but generally, they are signs of healthy healing which can take time depending on the severity of the wound and the degree of care you give to them. Most often these scabs leave behind an unwanted scar.
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What are the common symptoms of scabs?
Common symptoms that accompany scabs are
- Severe itchiness at the wounded area
- pain
- wound discharge
- bleeding
- tingling sensation
What causes these ugly scabs?
The potential causes of those ugly scabs on your body and face are the following.
- popped pimples which form scabs over that area
- shingles
- acne
- eczema
- dry skin that leads to cracking
- cold sores, especially on the area around your lips & mouth
- autoimmune disorders
- bacterial infections
- allergic reactions
- nonmelanoma skin cancer resulting in lesions and patches that take the form of scabs
- bug bites
- fungal infection
How to heal scabs fast: Top tips & remedies that work
Treating and taking care of scabs is very important to avoid getting seriously infected and avoiding scars once the scabs heal.Â
While our natural healing process is smooth and flawless, you still need to take some extra precautionary steps yourself to minimize the side effects and heal your scabs fast.
Here are some savvy tips you need to follow to heal those ugly scabs as fast as possible and get back your smooth and glowing skin.
1. Never touch, scratch or squeeze your scabs
I do understand that scabs sometimes severely itchy and temp you to pick or squeeze them but you have to keep control over yourself and never do this at any cost. Why? because of the following reasons.
- Because this would harm your natural healing process of scab and delay the appearance of your normal skin surface which you desperately want.
- Furthermore, this also often leads to infection, scarring and serious inflammation.
But you ask a counter-question, how to deal with serious itching that accompanies these scabs?
The best way to relieve you of this type of severe itching is to dab a dry or damp washcloth on the scab area and press it gently but never scrub with this piece of cloth as it can cause a reaction in the form of bleeding and redness.
In short, always leave your pimple scabs as it is, otherwise, scratching, rubbing can lead to reopening of wounds and other serious risks like a bacterial infection, severe inflammation, and excessive bleeding.
2. Cover up your scabs to protect them from infection
While initially, you might reject the idea of covering up your scabs to avoid getting them peeled off, but if you really want to speed up your scabs healing process you need to protect them with a good cover-up.
Covering up a pimple scab after it has been cleaned and treated with a topical first-aid (antiseptic) ointment or gel would allow you to keep bacteria away from your sensitive scab and a potential infection which can delay your scab healing process.
For solid protection for scabs, use a bandage or band-aids, gauze, and hydrogel sheets is a good option.
3. Maintain good overall hygiene
To ensure your scab’s health fast and healthy, you have to follow a hygiene protocol. Not only your hands touching the surface of the scab should be clean, but the surrounding area of the skin should also be clean and free of any debris.
Maintaining such a proper hygienic protocol would allow you to keep any potential irritation and infection at bay and would indirectly help your scabs to heal faster.
First, never ever touch your scabs, and if you ever have to, be sure to always wash your hands before and after. This would not help in protecting your scabs but would keep spreading infection ( if any) from scab to another area of your body.
4. Apply some healing topical treatments
While keeping your scabs clean is important for keeping any infection at a distance, to effectively alleviate itchiness, pain and speed up your scab recovery process, you have to make use of some OTC topical treatments.
For instance, Neosporin is a good choice. Other topical treatments that have very good antibacterial properties and can be used to hasten the healing process include:
- acne cream with either salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide
- An antibiotic ointment
- A zinc cream
5. Keep your scabs moisturized to speed up the healing
While cleaning and drying out your pimple scabs is important but a dry scab actually heals slowly. Using a good moisturizer that keeps your scabs well moisturized would not only help in their faster healing and recovery but it can also relieve other related symptoms like itching and tingling.
The following are some of the good scab moisturizer choices that you can apply on your scabs daily.
6. Protect your scabs from the sun to avoid scars
Most often scabs lead to dark scars and which can badly tarnish your facial looks. But the most common cause of these scars forming on your face is prolonged exposure to direct sunlight.
So, if you don’t want those ugly scars on your face due to scabs, then always put on sun protection after your moisturize your scabs, like a good sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.
7. Maintain a vitamin/mineral-rich diet
Certain minerals and nutrients found in foods are directly involved in the regeneration and healing process of scabs and wounds.
These important nutrients for healthy & speedy regeneration of scabs tissues are.
- protein
- selenium
- vitamin A
- vitamin C
- zinc
But these minerals can only be gained by eating a balanced diet that includes the following range of health foods like.
- Plenty of fruits and vegetables
- Rich sources of lean protein like poultry, beans, lentils, fish, and tofu
- Plenty of healthy fat sources avocado, olive oil, nuts & whole grains.
8. Quit smoking
According to recent studies, smoking can hinder the effective and quick healing process of wounds and scabs.
Precisely,
- According to the Journal of Wound Ostomy & Continence Nursing, Nicotine found in cigarettes reduces the flow of oxygen in the body.
- Another study suggests that smoking reduces the flow of wound healing white blood cells to the site of the wound which slows down the normal process of healing.
- Smoking can affect the normal functioning of infection and inflammation protecting cells of our body which means your scabs would heal slower and be more prone to infection.
9. Give your scabs enough rest to heal
Our body does most of the healing job during your resting period.
So, it turns out, while enough rest for our body would speed up the healing process of your scabs, a lack of enough rest for the body, on the other hand, would not only impair the normal healing process of our body but disrupt our normal immune function too.
This has recently been validated through a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology which noted that even a small disturbance in your normal sleep hours can derail the healing of wounds.
Although the delay may not be very significant, don’t forget to get at least 7–9 hours of sleep a night regularly can help boost the healing process.
When to seek professional help?
While most of the time scabs would heal themselves and fall off but you should not hesitate to run to seek professional help from your doctor or your dermatologist if you find the following symptoms accompanying your scabs.
- severe pain
- continuous oozing or bleeding out from your scabs
- No clear improvement in your scabs for a couple of days
- Growing swelling
- swelling that worsens
- The feeling of fever or chills
FAQs
Q: How long do scabs take to heal?
Ans: Normally, an average scab would take about 3-7 days to completely heal. In fact, the more serious and deeper the wound or cut, it can take up to 7-10 for scabs to heal. However, if you mess with your scab or rub/scratch/pick your scab, it would obviously take much longer than it normally should.
Q: Does picking a scab makes it heal faster?
Ans: No. Absolutely not at all. Picking a scab makes your normal healing duration much longer because when you pick a scab, you are restarting its healing period which can take up to weeks if you don’t stop picking it up.
Q: Is it good to put Vaseline on a scab?
Ans:Â Yes. Vaseline is good for your scab as it can speed up the healing process.
Basically, a vaseline is both a good moisturizer and a good scab protector. When you apply it on your scab, it protects it from an outside bacterial infection which indirectly speeds up your scab healing process and is a good remedy for scab healing.
Q: How do you get rid of pimple scabs?
Ans:Â You can easily get rid of pimple scabs if you follow these scabs healing tips.
1. Never touch, scratch, pick or pop your pimple scabs.
Maintain a good overall hygiene.
2. Use a moisturizer to speed up your healing
3. Sun-protect your scabs to avoid getting scabs & scars
4. Eat a nutrients/minerals-rich diet to aid your scabs healing process
5. Quit smoking/cigarettes to avoid aggravating your scabs
6. Take adequate rest to allow faster healing of your scabs
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