How I Healed My Scars With La Mer The Concentrate!

Today we tackle how to rid your body of unsightly scars. Remember, I said they were unsightly, so that's just a warning about the pictures to come. I am a person who has trouble with scars spreading as they heal and building excess scar tissue. Knowing that and facing any surgery, I always just have to shrug and say "there goes my future career as a supermodel, ok, Doc, let's do this".
Last year, I had to have a disc replaced in my neck. Did you know that they go thru the front of your neck to do this? I didn't either. I shrugged and ripped up my supermodel head shots, wondering how this big ol nasty scar would affect my blog. Post surgery, I got to thinking about La Mer and how it was initially developed to treat burns that the founder got in an accident. What happens to skin that burns? It scars. He treated his scars with this frothy sea broth that he created. I thought gee, I need to put this on my neck scar. I have no before pictures of my neck scar prior to the application of La Mer The Concentrate, but a picture of the current condition. I have marked the sides of the scar with an I on each side so you can see where it is and really, the only visible portion of the scar left is where I ripped the stitches out prematurely. (Doctors, don't ever give a whole verbal list of instructions to a patient on morphine; they might not fully understand it).     The following picture is from further away, which kind of looks the same, but I use it to illustrate that at a normal distance, all you may or may not even notice is the area that I enlarged the scar myself by pulling stitches out that were meant to stay in.
  I put the La Mer Concentrate on my neck twice a day for a couple of weeks and saw a dramatic reduction in the angry condition of the scar. It just about disappeared. I couldn't have hoped for a better result. As a matter of fact, I thought I was a genius!  I have told my particular sales person about my success with the concentrate and urged her to give testimony to her clients, and wouldn't you believe that I just now went to the La Mer website to look up the sizing and pricing info on The Concentrate and this is what it says:  under Benefits, it says that it speeds up the body's natural healing process.     Further, it says "This ultra-potent elixir remarkably improves the appearance of scarring resulting from surgery and burns, and visibly diminishes irritation and redness caused by dermatological procedures. Formulated with a high concentration of The Miracle Broth™, it empowers skin with the energy it needs to accelerate its natural repair process. Special barrier repair ingredients act as lipid "cellular cement" to help strengthen vulnerable skin while the anti-oxidant properties of Lime Tea Extract help protect skin from external insults. Feelings of tight or taut skin are relieved as suppleness and smoothness are greatly restored."   Under the heading Application: "To complement skin's natural healing process and improve the appearance of scars, thoroughly massage onto affected area at least twice per day. La Mer's scientists recommend using The Concentrate in tandem with Crème de la Mer to seal in its vital, skin-renewing benefits. Always consult a physician prior to use after surgery or any other serious skin trauma." I thought I had really discovered something amazing, and it is amazing, but I guess if I'd been searching, I would have found that same information right on the La Mer website!!!!  Well, now we all know. Before I show you what it's done for my recent shoulder surgical scar, I want to tell you a little about the serum itself. It's in a green glass bottle that keeps the serum protected from light and when you pull off the top, it has a little spatula attached to the lid that you scoop the serum with.    
  The serum is what I would describe as a slightly opaque viscous liquid.  It's not as thick as Vaseline, not quite as thick as an egg white, but it's not thin like water, either.  I can't really think of anything quite in the same ball park to compare it to.   It's not sticky, tacky or oily, nor does it feel like a gel.  It absorbs rapidly leaving no icky feeling on the face or body.  It has a light and pleasing scent.  All in all, it feels absolutely luxurious and like you're doing something wonderful for your skin....and you are!     There you see, for a brief day or so, my unmanicured hand...so many choices of color, so few fingers...but back to the La Mer Concentrate...I had shoulder surgery two months ago. It was more extensive than anticipated and the incision was about four inches long, with an additional small one in the front and small one in the back of the joint. Here come the scary pictures. One week post surgery, my outer stitches were removed and I had steri-strips glued on that were to stay for three weeks. And my wound looked like this:     I probably should have started with the La Mer right away but I waited until the steri-strips came off.  I didn't realize nothing was going to move those until three weeks were up, so it would have been ok to start the La Mer.   At the four week point post-surgery, upon removal of the steri-strips, I had this:  

Sorry about the lousy quality of the iphone pictures.  I didn't know I was going to blog this but I decided to track it so I could share it with my local La Mer sales rep.  So, four weeks post surgery, I had a big red ugly nasty mess, as well as skin irritation from the steri-strips.

I applied La Mer The Concentrate twice a day for most, but not all, days during a two week period and at six weeks post surgery, I had this:

After just two weeks, I had a mere shadow of the former scar.  It's quite remarkable.  If you're one of the lucky few who has seen the scars on my elbow, knees and ankle, you'll understand what a real miracle the application of this Concentrate has been.  I purposefully didn't apply it to the tiny 1/2" scar in back, in part because of restricted movement, but mainly to see the difference and you can see in the following picture that the tiny scar is still red and visible on it's own and the huge scar, which should be more red and bumped up and ugly, is quite livable and absolutely flat.  Had I put The Concentrate on the scar in the back like I did on the front and the main scar, that little tiny one wouldn't even be visible, as the little one in front is gone.

At this point, I have to confess I haven't been as regular with applying the La Mer Concentrate in the past two week period since these pictures.  I'm really content with the progress I made in two weeks.  And let's face it, if I completely delete the scar, people will think I faked injury for six months.  LOL .  And, because I had the La Mer downstairs waiting to pose for a photo, I'd forget till I was up in my bedroom and just too lazy to walk back downstairs and get it.  I know, that's so bad, but...I'm content.  And, I'm also curious if I can shrink the decades old scars on my knees that are really pretty....what's the word...unattractive?  They made fun of me in college because of these scarred up knees. 

Yes, I do use this on my face, and I have, (I can almost hear you choking now), used this on my teenage son for an allergy he had to the metal in his belt.  He had very red angry welts that were painful and itchy and The Concentrate was the only thing that helped him.  It's expensive but a mom will do anything for her baby not to suffer. 

 You can purchase this in a 1 fluid ounce standard size or the one that gives you more value for the money at 1.7 fl oz.   The previous link takes you directly to the La Mer website, but all the information can also be found at Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom.   The 1 ounce sells for $275 USD and the 1.7 ounce for $375, making the latter a greater value.  Yes, it is expensive, but yes, it is really worth it.  It seriously makes your skin as smooth as the proverbial baby's rear end.  I have used this product ever since it first came out and the 1 ounce will last around 9 months to a year depending on how many places you use it on and how many people you share it with.

So tell me if you've tried La Mer.  I started with the initial product, Creme de La Mer, and switched to the Moisturizing Lotion when it came out.  I've used the Regenerating Serum.  When I've had to have surgery, I have splurged on things like the Hand Treatment and the Body Creme to cheer me up.   I've received a sample of The Lip Balm in the past and it was really amazing!!! 

La Mer has generous gift with purchases that help me to feel like I'm getting a good value for my money.  So now you've seen all my nasty pictures, and I sure hope you're still with me, my valued and adored reader.  I'd even let you sample my La Mer The Concentrate because I appreciate you!!

UPDATE JULY 2016:  It occured to me that I hadn't updated you on the complete progress I had as my shoulder scar healed.  I think you should take a look,  Here is a current picture:

I'm pretty impressed!!!!  Since the time of the shoulder surgery, I had another neck surgery in the same place and I was in a neck brace for just short of a year.  Because of the brace, I wasn't able to apply my La Mer The Concentrate much at all.  The difference is pretty obvious.  It's a shame because that scar doesn't look very nice and certainly isn't a tiny white line like my shoulder.  My shoulder was a great success thanks to my continual application of La Mer for the first month!

Thank you for viewing!

(The links are provided for your ease of ordering.  I do have an affiliate relationship with Nordstrom, but not with La Mer or Neiman Marcus.  Please see my disclosure info for more information.)