Few aspects of healthcare touch the soul quite like scar care. Each scar tells a story—of injuries endured, surgeries survived, or battles fought—and the journey to heal is as intricate as the marks themselves. But traversing this path can feel overwhelming, tangled in a web of countless products, elusive promises, and unanswered questions. Beyond the physical, scars often carry an emotional weight, reshaping not just appearances but also self-worth and confidence.
Heather Chisholm understands these complexities on a deeply personal level. Inspired by her own challenging journey with scar care, she set out to revolutionize the way scars are treated and perceived. This vision gave rise to MendedSkin, a company that approaches scar care with a rare blend of science, empathy, and innovation
Making Scar Care More Accessible and Effective
Heather was inspired to create the company after her personal experience with painful scarring and the challenges she faced in accessing effective treatments across different regions. The journey was often complicated and expensive, leading Heather to initially feel that she was simply unlucky. With her background in R&D product development and research data management, Heather had the opportunity to meet a doctor who encouraged her to educate herself about available treatment options, empowering her to make informed decisions regarding her care. This transformative experience ignited a passion in Heather to create solutions that make scar care more accessible, effective, and patient-centered.
Cutting Through the Clutter
Heather shared some of the key challenges the company faced in developing innovative scar care solutions. One of the main hurdles was navigating the overwhelming volume of misinformation and unverified products in the market. Many products claim to provide results but are either ineffective or potentially harmful. MendedSkin focuses on helping individuals navigate the complex landscape of scar care options by emphasizing the importance of vetting treatments based on key factors like clinical evidence, risk, treatment duration, pain, and cost. While search engines offer a vast array of information, they often expose people to countless products that may not be suitable. To address this, MendedSkin aims to provide personalized recommendations tailored to each patient’s unique needs, ensuring they can make informed decisions with confidence. Another challenge Heather highlighted was the deeply personal and emotional nature of scar care, as every treatment journey is unique, and MendedSkin strives to respect and cater to these differences.
Setting a New Standard in Scar Management
Heather envisions personalized care playing a transformative role in the healthcare landscape, particularly in scar healing. She believes that personalization and precision medicine represent the next frontier in healthcare, with a significant impact on scar management. Traditionally, scar treatment has been viewed as a separate step after injuries or surgeries, but there is now a shift toward more holistic approaches. Heather emphasizes that every scar is unique, with its own phenotype and endotype, making it crucial to understand these distinctions. By approaching scar treatments from an endotype perspective, MendedSkin aims to deliver more targeted and effective care, ultimately improving outcomes for patients and setting a new standard in scar management.
Healing Beyond the Surface
Scar care is often a sensitive issue for many individuals, impacting both their physical and emotional well-being. At MendedSkin, Heather and her team strive to empower individuals by addressing both aspects of healing. Physically, MendedSkin focuses on providing evidence-based, personalized recommendations that prioritize effectiveness and safety, ensuring that patients can trust the treatments they pursue. Emotionally, the company acknowledges the significant role psychodermatology plays in understanding the connection between skin health and mental well-being. They emphasize the importance of listening to patients’ goals and expectations, recognizing that a patient’s perspective is crucial in crafting an approach that aligns with their needs. By fostering a supportive and educational environment, MendedSkin helps patients feel informed and in control of their healing journey. Their mission is not only to improve physical outcomes but also to promote a sense of empowerment, resilience, and confidence in those they serve.
Enhancing the Healing Process with Informed Descions
In Heather’s experience, patient education is critical in the scar care process. Understanding pain management, at-home therapies, and the commitment required is key to achieving optimal results. Misalignment of expectations often has a negative impact on patients, making clear communication about treatment options and outcomes essential. MendedSkin places a strong emphasis on providing accessible resources to educate patients, recognizing that personalized education plays a vital role in aligning patient goals with realistic expectations. This approach is particularly important in healthcare, and even more so in personalized scar care, where informed decision-making can significantly enhance the healing process.
As an innovator in healthcare, Heather stays ahead of industry trends by leveraging her passion for scar care and her interest in technology. With 15 years of experience in STEM research and product development, staying at the forefront of innovation comes naturally to her. She advises those starting out to make staying informed a habit, noting that there are plenty of useful resources available at universities and research institutes. This continuous learning helps her develop cutting-edge solutions for her patients, ensuring that MendedSkin remains innovative and responsive to evolving needs in scar care.
Embracing Innovation and Finding Balance
Heather reflects on the evolution of scar care, noting that the field has significantly advanced over her lifetime. She believes that the future of scar treatment is heading towards regenerative medicine, a development that is widely acknowledged within the industry. This emerging focus promises to revolutionize scar care by offering more effective and innovative treatment options, further improving patient outcomes.
Heather acknowledges the incredible women in healthcare whom she deeply respects. While she feels she may not be the one to offer broad advice, she shares her own approach to balancing her professional and personal life. Her strategy involves practicing daily rituals that encompass supporting her business, nurturing her interests, and maintaining relationships. While it’s not always perfectly balanced, she emphasizes the importance of tracking these aspects to help course-correct when things start to skew.
Building a Reliable System for Scar Care
MendedSkin places a strong emphasis on inclusion and accessibility, considering these principles as core values that are integral to the company’s foundation. These values are not optional but essential to fulfilling the purpose of MendedSkin. The company’s culture is built around these principles, ensuring they guide all aspects of the organization’s work. In terms of product development, MendedSkin ensures that recommendations are contextualized with respect to individual differences, which is embedded in the models they create. This approach helps to ensure that their solutions are accessible and inclusive for people from diverse backgrounds with varying needs.
Heather’s future goals for MendedSkin include building a reliable system for scar care frameworks and growing a community of dedicated practitioners. She believes that the complexity of scar care cannot be solved by one doctor or product, but rather by the clear distillation of protocols and best practices from around the world. Through collaboration and knowledge-sharing, Heather plans to continue empowering individuals by improving the accessibility and effectiveness of scar care solutions globally.
