Pacemaker

In the literature I received on do's & dont's once you have a pacermaker, it says, do not expose your skin over the pacemaker for the first year, as it will darken your skin.in that area.  I have asked at my check-ups why would it only affect you for one year.  No one seems aware of this advice & have said just avoid exposing the area for a couple of months & all should be well.  Has anyone else been advised to cover up for a year, or has anyone had a reaction if they have have directly exposed that area to the sun?  Thank you. 

3 Comments

Healing

by Persephone - 2022-07-01 09:49:51

Hi Flossie - hope you're feeling well. It's my understanding that scars in general have better healing and long-term appearance outcomes if they're protected from sun exposure. It sounds like your medical team is advising to be fairly diligent about protecting the area from sun exposure for about the first year while the area heals (would still need routine sun protection after that year, of course). I don't think this sun protection would need to include drastic measures such as staying inside the house, but some reasonable level of extra care should be taken to minimize the additional damage of sun exposure while the skin is doing its best to heal around the scar.

Healing

by Aberdeen - 2022-07-01 10:02:32

Flossie- I hope all is going well for you. I agree with Persephone. I was told that if a scar is exposed to the sun in the first year it will darken instead of fading to white.

I was on holiday recently and I used factor 50 on my scar and a lower factor on the rest of me. That worked!

Scar protection

by AgentX86 - 2022-07-01 13:12:14

Scars tend to be very sensitive to UV, perhaps forever and thus burns every easily. The arm where I had the hematoma last year hasn't gained back any of its normal color (white spot the size of a basball).  I wasn't thinking too much about the sun (other than it's hot) and didn't cover it.  At the end of the walk it was bright red, where the skin around it was the normal color, perhaps a little tanned. The scar itself didn't change because it was on the inside of my wrist, so shaded.

At least for the first year make sure to slather on sunscreen.

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I'm 35 and got my pacemaker a little over a year ago. It definitely is not a burden to me. In fact, I have more energy (which my husband enjoys), can do more things with my kids and have weight because of having the energy.