SpiderTech’s new myScarTape has one purpose: to give back their lives to people suffering from external scars – and not just scars which are unsightly, but ones with greater impact.
Annually, more than 100 million people acquire scars, many of which impact their lives by causing pain, irritation, discomfort, itching, sleep deprivation, even social stigma and loss of self-esteem and confidence. Consequently, activities like running, walking and other physical activities are either compromised or completely curtailed.
myScarTape, a new product by the kinesiology-tape company SpiderTech, is a doctor-led, drug-free and hypoallergenic innovation that treats both the physical and emotional sensitivity associated with scars.
Available in three skin tones and two shapes, myScarTape mimics the elasticity of skin and is applied over the scar for long-lasting coverage, protection and remediation. Additionally, when applied to young scars, it can often reduce further scar growth by supporting and alleviating skin tension on the affected area.
MyScarTape’s development was spearheaded by Dr. Marc Jeschke, director of the Ross Tilley Burn Center at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, a surgeon-scientist, and a professor in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto.
“I see a lot of patients that have bad scars, generally keloids or hypertrophic [HTS] scars,” he said. “A lot of people have surgery, cuts or injuries, burns and develop bad scars. There are limited treatment options.
“We sat down with the folks at SpiderTech to brainstorm, to develop a unique tape that can be applied to the scar. We went through various innovation rounds to improve what we did and reached what we have now—myScarTape—an easy intervention that can restore people’s lives and improve people’s quality of life.”
Another, upcoming development, from the joint work of Dr. Jeschke’s team and SpiderTech is doctor-applied wound tape. Based on similar properties as myScarTape, the wound tape helps sutured incisions heal while allowing the patient to resume normal activities – like showering – more quickly than traditional methods.
SpiderTech, a leading provider of kinesiology tape and a member of the NUCAP family of technology companies, was a natural ally in these endeavors because the basic principles of kinesiology tape and myScarTape are the same: in the scarred region remove tension, lift the skin, increase blood flow.
“MyScarTape adds a certain amount of pressure onto the scar, thereby reducing the blood flow, the influx of inflammatory cells and stress factors, and calming down the tissue that surrounds the scar,” Dr. Jeschke explained. “If you reduce tension on a scar, usually, within the scar, within the tissue, the whole signal goes to relaxation. You have less of that whole stress that is in the scar, leading up to an improvement in various aspects.
“Comments I hear from patients are: ‘Less itch. Less discomfort. Less pain. I can sleep. I can exercise. And I see a reduction in scar height.'”
Easy to self-apply, a myScarTape strip is sweat and water resistant, 100-percent breathable cotton, and stays in place for one to two weeks. It is a low-cost, low-risk, and high-benefit treatment that works both for people suffering with uncomfortable scars for decades and for patients looking for immediate relief and improvement for fresh or problematic scars.
“After a week you still feel that taut bandage on your arm. You still feel like it’s sticking and doing its job. I think that’s what gives it such great quality,” says Chantal, a trial patient for MyScarTape with a large shoulder keloid scar. “Knowing that there’s something as simple as tape out there that can help constrict it, help it go down, help treat it, gives a sense of hope.”
In addition to helping manage scars and treat associated physical issues they present, many patients found having the tape cover their scar had positive mental health benefits as well. In trials, many patients reported their scars affected their confidence and had become self-conscious about the look of their scars but that having a simple “second skin” to cover them helped bring back their sense of confidence.
Available in both a D-shape and an I-shape design to cover different scar formations, MyScarTape is now available to the public online at MyScarTape.com.
