Why would a facial injury stay red for months? sensitive skin? scar?

Skin type : Your skin type has a large role in the persistence of erythema after suffering trauma. It's important to limit sun exposure and to protect your skin from sun with spf 30 or greater. Pulsed dye lasers work very well to reduce persistent redness.

Remodelling: Scar tissue goes through various phases of healing from inflammation (3-5days), proliferative phase (laying down extra scar to increase tensile strength5-6 weeks), and remodeling phase (6-12 months) where collagen is cross-linked to increase strength and extra collagen is absorbed. All of these phases have increased blood flow and increase redness. Hypertrophic scars may require intervention.

Wound healing : The usual course of a wound to heal takes many months due to collagen formation and reorganization. At the initial stage of healing the scar gets red and very raised and through time after two months you'll see the scar flatten out and the scarf fade over time. If the scar continues to be red and raised then other treatments are available.

Neovascularization: Whenever we get injured, the body form new blood vessles in the area of injury to help speed the healing. The response varies from person to person, and in thinner and less pigmented skin the process is more noticeable. It can resolve in a few weeks, months and sometimes years. If you feel you are not healing correctly, consider an in person consultation.