Mederma PM vs Palmer's Cocoa Butter with Vitamin E

I don't usually talk about lotions or things for areas of the body other than the face. However, I wanted to do a post on this because I was so impressed with one of these items and with the other extremely let down. 

I had a Power Port put in my chest back in January and it left an ugly scar. A "keloid" type scar actually which is thick and bulky. I'm not prone to those so I don't know why this done it, and trust me I have plenty of scars. Anyways, it is now August and this scar still itches like crazy and also is still pink and raised. After a while a regular scar turns white and flattens out. This one was not doing that at all. 

So every six weeks I go and get my port flushed at my surgeons office so they can check it and I was asking him about my scar and how much it itched! It was literally driving me crazy. Plus I hate the way it looks. I try and at least cover up the redness with concealer finally just accepting that I wouldn't be able to do anything about the size nor the texture of it. I had been using scar cream as soon as I could but it hadn't worked and I just didn't feel like it was going to.

My surgeon (who is old school, but wonderful and a great surgeon), tells me that I need to be using Cocoa Butter with Vitamin E on it every day until it turns white. This whole time I'd been using Mederma. Not just Mederma but the PM Intensive Overnight Scar Cream that is supposed to be used for 8 weeks on new scars and then 3-6 months on existing scars. Well it's August, so the 8 weeks have passed by now people.

This was the 2nd time he'd told me to use Cocoa Butter and Vitamin E. I just was so reluctant because my actual scar cream was around $25. It actually runs anywhere from $20-$30 but I think I paid around $25 because it was supposed to be "better". So I went directly to Walgreens to pick up some cocoa butter and found the Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E.....for $6. It was a solid and not a cream but they do have a cream apparently. This reminds you of solid coconut oil, texture wise. I got it though because it was cheaper than the Nivea and honestly I didn't think it would help. So I didn't want to waste even more money. 

It took me a minute to get used to the fact that it was solid. I finally just started using a makeup spatula to get out a good amount of product. First thing I noticed was that I loved the smell. I LOVE the smell of this. Then I loved that it could be used anywhere on the body whether it was a scar, rough skin, dry itchy skin, or what have you. Literally after 2 weeks of using this my scar is a lighter color and doesn't itch near as much (thank you Jesus), but it's also smaller. It's still pink but it at least felt better and looked better. So I didn't stop at just my scar. I started putting it on my feet and anywhere that I had dry or rough skin. Not only does it soften the skin but it heals it too. Which is a win win for me. It's 24 hour moisture but sometimes I put it on my super dry areas 2 times a day. I'm not a fan of lotions either but this really makes a huge difference for me because it absorbs so fast. It feels a bit greasy at first but in about 2 minutes that feeling is completely gone.

So to sum this up.....thanks to my scar being a pain in the ass, I found a hidden gem and then also a disappointing product as well. Perhaps on some people the Mederma PM works but for me it didn't do hardly anything, mind you it could be because this is a "keloid" type scar. This Palmer's Cocoa Butter has done more in two or three weeks than the Merderma done in 7 or 8 months. Once again the Palmer's Cocoa Butter with Vitamin E is around $6 for 3.5 oz and the Mederma PM Intensive Overnight Scar Cream is anywhere from $20-$30 for 1.0 oz. 

There ya have it. I know this was an odd post but I truly hope this helps someone else who may have some similar problem or can be something you refer to your friends if they are having an issue like this. Or if you just have some really dry skin here is alternative if you can't find anything that helps.

These pictures are kinda like "progress pics". My port was put in sometime in January. So the top left side is actually February 29th when I took off the final bandage. Also the whole time I was keeping it clean and putting Neosporin on it constantly so that it would heal fast. 

The bottom left is May. You can see its super red, raised and quite long. That was after putting Mederma PM on it every night. (yes I am eating Sparkle Cherry Laffy Taffy, cause I'm cool like that)

The right side was actually taken today which is August 13th. You can see it isn't as long, It's definitely not as red. It's still raised which I don't think it's ever going to be flat but it looks a lot better. This was after using the Palmers Cocoa Butter for 3 weeks.