Significance: This article discusses the history and developments of silicone gel sheeting (SGS) scar therapy. Furthermore, we review a breadth of literature to gain an insight into how and why topical silicone gels remain the favored treatment of medical experts in scar management. We also analyze an ever increasing number of alternative therapies claiming to provide enhanced scar reduction performance. Recent Advances: Topical silicone gel treatments seem to remain the first point of clinical recommendation in scar management. SGS has been used in scar therapy for over 30 years, during which its efficacy has been the subject of numerous clinical evaluations. Critical Issues: While the exact mechanisms by which SGS improves hypertrophic scars, keloid development and recovery are yet to be fully agreed upon, its ability to do so remains largely undisputed at present. However, there still is ongoing deliberation over the exact mechanism of action of silicone in improving a scar. At present it is likely that through occlusion of the scar site and hydration of the wound bed, the overactivity of scar-related cells is suppressed, and their activity normalized. Future Direction: The clinical support of topical silicone gel products, relative to all alternative scar therapies, is considered the internationally recommended first-line form of scar management, and favored by consensus among healthcare professionals. However, there still remains the need for further clinical evidence and a better understanding of the mechanism behind the benefit of silicone gel for use in the prevention of abnormal scarring.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 238. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 October 2026.
All research outputs
#199,791
of 34,536,218 outputs
Outputs from Advances in Wound Care
#8
of 529 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,663
of 303,014 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Advances in Wound Care
#1
of 15 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,536,218 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 529 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 17.6. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 303,014 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 15 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
