Tip of the Week #1: Kelan for Scar Tissue
Scar tissue is one of a few commonly overlooked problems that can make a patient unresponsive to treatment and/or make what are otherwise mild stressors snowball into chronic disease. Likewise, treating the scar tissue can sometimes be the key that gets the case to finally start unwinding and the patient moving towards health.
The basic reason is that wherever scar tissue is, due to the different amounts, types, and structuring of proteins within the scar, compared to normal tissue, there is increased electrical resistance, and tension placed on the fascial system—both of which can potentially affect any system or tissue anywhere else in the body.
As a quick visual example of this, consider the image below.
This is an analogy for how scar tissue affects the body. The hook pulling on the onesie, with tension visible all over the body at sites far from the hook itself, represents the physical tension that scar tissue places on the body. Scar tissue is, in a basic sense, wadded up fascia (a visual example of fascia is the translucent membrane on a raw chicken breast) and part of the fully interconnected sheet of fascia that winds all over, inside and out of, the body, similar to the onesie above.
In addition to this physical stress, altered electrical activity local to the scar affects signaling within the autonomic nervous system, leading to issues like varied pain patterns and abnormal hormone function, and interfering with any meridian running through the scarred area, potentially affecting not just the organs/systems associated with that meridian, but also throwing off the balance of the whole system, dependent on the fine balance and homeostatic capacity of the meridians all together. While the scope of a "Tip of the Week" is not to go deeply into the topic at hand, these ideas are discussed in much more specific detail in varied googleable books and online articles.
Neural therapy (injection of procaine or another substance directly into the scar or other tissue) is the classic treatment for scar tissue, and it's a great therapy when/where it is available, but many patients do not have access to a provider trained to do it. In these scenarios, or other cases where injections are not ideal due to sensitive location (episiotomy or circumcision scars, scars on the highly innervated palms or fingers, etc.) or where the injections themselves are likely to cause further trauma (pediatrics, needle phobias, etc.), Kelan ointment by Pekana can be an alternative. We have seen dramatic scar tissue and related symptom changes with the topical use of this on scars, whether they be minor scrapes from childhood or heavily traumatic scars related to injury or surgery, and don't forget your first scar: your navel; 1-2x/day for at least 6 weeks, going longer if changes are still being experienced.
While Pekana is a physician-only brand (usually retailers of physician-only brands are required to sign paperwork indicating that they will not sell it to non-practitioners without a consult or prescription), there are a number of online retailers that are willing to sell it to non-practitioners with a free consult with their physician on staff (which is both a method of determining/advising safety and a loophole to sell products); put Kelan Pekana into a search engine to find these retailers.
The material above is not meant to be taken as medical advice. Kelan is a great treatment, but only one part of what is often a complex puzzle. Discuss with an appropriately trained healthcare provider to assess suitability in your case before use. Dr. Sarah has no financial relationship to Pekana, Kelan, or their retailers.
Photo credit to kazuend at Unsplash.