Stay Away From My Derma!
Written: Jul 17 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: None
Cons: Expensive and Ineffective
|
|
|
| caconti's Full Review: Mederma Skin Care for Scars |
Caconti Has Babies?
So why do I call them my babies? Because they act like four year olds, jumping on the furniture, running on the wet bathroom tiles, and generally taking their lives in their hands whenever possible. Cuts and near death experiences are a daily occurrence, so it didn't surprise me one bit when my resident Biff (yes, that's really what we called him) ripped his thigh open in some vaguely remembered drunken happenstance. It was an ugly situation that required a lot of painful medical attention and a lot of worrying and paperwork for yours truly. I was curious as to how the medicine the doctor gave him, Mederma, would work on keeping him from scarring, having earned myself a good sized white gash in my own thigh through childhood misadventures. What I found was another disappointing product.
Mederma claims to use a special ingredient, a "botanical extract" called CEPALIN, to work miracles on your scars, both old and new. Experience with this product has confirmed my faith in chemicals and distrust in botanicals, here's why:
The Strikes
1.Effectiveness- While a lot of factors go into the overall rating of a product, in the end only one thing matters: does it work? The answer with Mederma is that no, it didn't do what it was supposed to. After almost a semester's worth of applications the scar was still there, having only been reduced slightly. The results were slight at best, and that was highly disappointing considering the optimism of both Mederma and the surgeon who recommended it. From what I could tell, it looks like a good nightly application of vitamin E could have given him the same results, if not better.
2.Pleasantness- The first problem here is the medicinal scent, something I simply cannot stand. Not only is it a disgusting and somewhat embarrassing odor, but Biff would often complain that the smell got stronger as he sweated and walked…which means that effort enhances the stink. This could especially be a problem for those with scars on highly utilized areas such as knees and elbows.
The form of Mederma is actually neat, in that it starts as a gel and liquefies as you apply it to your skin in order to provide more coverage.
3.Price- In the neighborhood of around $30 for a 50 gram tube, Mederma is expensive by any standards. Biff was a big guy and his scar was large as well, so a generous application 4 times a day sapped a lot of this "magic gel". In the course of the semester I estimate that he used a good 4 tubes of the stuff. That's almost $125 for a treatment that did nothing for him. Vanity costs I guess…
The Usual Disclaimer
Individual results with medications vary, and scar healing involves a lot of sensitive factors such as internal biology, skin type and even environmental conditions. What's all that junk mean? That Biff's experience with Mederma doesn't mean that it's a completely worthless product, it was just worthless in this situation. Many doctors and surgeons highly recommend the product, but I suggest strongly that you ask them to honestly asses your chances of being helped by Mederma, and way the costs. There are less expensive and highly effective treatments like Rejuveness that might be more helpful to you depending on your scar…
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
caconti
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Christian Conti
Location: Washington, DC
Reviews written: 636
Trusted by: 481 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.