Scar massage for burn scars

Scar massage can ease the pain, itch and tightness of healed burn scars and may slightly thin them. A 2023 meta-analysis of seven studies with 420 burn patients found that massage by therapists one to three times a week for 12 weeks reduced pain, itching and anxiety. It is only for fully closed skin, and it works alongside the silicone, pressure garments or laser your burn team recommends.

Does scar massage help burn scars?

Scar massage helps healed burn scars mainly by easing pain, itch and tightness, with a smaller effect on thickness. Our role is to treat those symptoms and the scar’s pliability, as one part of burn-scar rehabilitation that your burn clinic or surgeon leads.

Raised, thick scars are very common after burns. A 2016 review from the burns and plastic surgery team at Morriston Hospital in Swansea describes how, as burn wounds heal, people often develop tight, itchy, neuropathically painful hypertrophic scars. It notes that massage, moisture, silicone and pressure therapy have long been the standard of care, and is candid that the evidence behind them has been more historical than scientific.

Better evidence has arrived since. A 2023 meta-analysis in the Journal of Clinical Nursing pooled seven studies with 420 burn patients:

What was measured	Result with scar massage
Pain	Reduced (standardised mean difference -2.39)
Itch	Reduced (SMD -1.89)
Anxiety	Reduced (SMD -1.52)
Scar thickness	Slightly improved
Depression	No significant effect

Sessions in those studies lasted 5 to 30 minutes, were delivered by massage therapists one to three times a week, and ran for 12 weeks.

What a large trial added

The strongest single trial was carried out at the Hallym Burn Center in Seoul. It randomized 146 burn patients with hypertrophic scars: all had standard scar rehabilitation, and 76 also received burn rehabilitation massage. Pain and itch dropped in both groups, but only the massage group showed significant falls in scar thickness, redness and pigment, along with better skin elasticity.

That pattern matches what many people with burn scars describe wanting: not a different-looking scar so much as one that itches less, hurts less and lets a shoulder, hand or knee move more freely.

When healed skin is ready for hands-on work

Scar massage is for closed, healed skin only. If any part of the burn is still open, weeping or crusted, it is not ready, and the people treating the wound decide when it is. The NHS notes that small burns and scalds often heal in around two weeks; deeper burns treated in hospital, sometimes with skin grafts, take longer.

Before your first session, it helps to know:

• Whether any area is grafted or donor skin, and how old it is
• What your burn team has prescribed: silicone gel or sheets, pressure garments, splints or laser
• Which movements the scar limits, such as reaching overhead, making a fist or straightening the knee
• Where it itches or hurts most, and what makes that worse

Silicone and pressure garments are tools from the burn team, and a 2020 trial in 153 children found no difference between silicone gel alone and pressure garments alone at six months, and no added benefit from combining them. A 2020 review in Burns and Trauma describes laser treatment as a minimally invasive option that can reduce scar thickness, itch and pain and improve pliability. Massage sits alongside all of these rather than replacing them.

Scar changes that need a doctor, not massage

Most old burn scars are stable, but a few changes need prompt medical attention. The main one is a Marjolin ulcer, a rare skin cancer that develops in a scar.

DermNet, the dermatology resource from New Zealand, explains that Marjolin ulcers most often form in old thermal burn scars, on average around 30 years after the injury, and that about 2% of burn scars are estimated to develop one. It usually appears as a non-healing sore that may grow, bleed easily, become painful or smell, and it should be suspected when an ulcer persists for more than three months in a scar.

See your doctor before booking if:

• A sore or breakdown in a burn scar has not healed within a few weeks
• Part of the scar has become hard, raised and different from the rest, or bleeds on contact
• The scar is red, hot and swollen, or you feel unwell, which may be infection
• A new burn is large or deep, on the face, genitals or bottom, or caused by chemicals or electricity: the NHS treats these as emergencies, so in Canada call 911 or go to an emergency department

We look at every scar before working on it, and if anything looks unhealed or unusual, we stop and suggest a check first.

How this works at Renu

At Renu, burn scar massage is done by our Registered Massage Therapists as part of a massage therapy booking. The session works the scar itself with slow, sustained pressure and stretch, then the muscles and joints around it that have tightened from guarding, which is often where much of the discomfort sits.

Booking	Price	Suits
Massage, 30 min	$80	One scar area, close to the length used in the trials
Massage, 45 min	$100	A scar plus the shoulder, hand or hip it pulls on
Massage, 60 min	$120	Larger or several scar areas, or scar work plus general tension

Between visits, home massage and moisturising matter; our guide to scar massage at home walks through it, and protecting a new scar with silicone and sunscreen covers the first year. In a dry Calgary winter, keeping the scar moisturised between visits is part of the work. For keloids and raised scars from other causes, see hypertrophic and keloid scars. Book through Jane.

Questions people ask

How soon after a burn can I start scar massage?

Only once every part of the wound is fully closed and your burn team or doctor agrees. Small burns often heal in around two weeks, but deeper or grafted burns take longer, so let the people treating the wound decide when hands-on work can begin.

Does burn scar massage hurt?

It should be firm but tolerable, never sharp. Burn scars can be sensitive and neuropathically painful, so pressure is built up slowly and you can ask for less at any time.

Can massage flatten a raised burn scar?

Only a little, on current evidence. The 2023 meta-analysis found a small improvement in scar thickness, and a 146-patient trial found thinner, less red, more elastic scars when massage was added. The clearer benefits were less pain and less itch.

Should I use silicone or a pressure garment as well?

Follow your burn team. A trial in 153 children found silicone gel and pressure garments worked about equally at six months, and combining them added no extra benefit, so your team may choose one based on the scar and your routine.

Sources

1. Lin et al., J Clin Nurs 2023: Effects of scar massage on burn scars, a systematic review and meta-analysis
2. Cho et al., Burns 2014: Burn rehabilitation massage therapy on hypertrophic scar, a randomized controlled trial
3. McGoldrick et al., Scars Burn Heal 2016: Lasers and ancillary treatments for scar management, Part I: burn scars
4. Wiseman et al., Clin Rehabil 2020: Silicone gel and pressure garment therapy for burn scars in children, an RCT
5. Klifto et al., Burns Trauma 2020: Laser management of hypertrophic burn scars
6. DermNet: Marjolin ulcer
7. NHS: Burns and scalds

Page reviewed October 5, 2026. This page is education, not a diagnosis. For your own situation, talk to your doctor, surgeon or care team, or ask us.