Why Does My Scar Hurt When the Weather Changes? What the Weather Studies Show — and the 4-Week Log That Finds Your Trigger

By S. C. Aris — about the author

Last updated: 27 October 2026

What the top results miss

Search “why does my scar hurt when the weather changes” and the first page is thin: a few auto-generated pages that recycle the same list of “reasons,” some patient forums, and one general health-system article about cold weather and old injuries. None of the pages we opened separates the three things people are really asking: is the weather link real, is it the cold or the damp, and is my scar different from an old knee injury? None gives a number, and none tells you how to test your own trigger. This article does the sorting using the sources we could open, is plain about where the evidence stops, and ends with a four-week log and a signs-to-ask list.

The honest starting point: the weather–pain link is real but modest

The largest study of weather and pain so far is “Cloudy with a Chance of Pain,” led from the University of Manchester (Dixon et al., npj Digital Medicine, 2019). It was a smartphone-app study: people logged their symptoms daily, and the weather at their phone’s location was matched to each entry. The published analysis used data from 2,658 people. Its abstract reports “significant yet modest relationships between pain and relative humidity, pressure and wind speed,” and the relationships held after accounting for mood and physical activity.

The University of Manchester’s summary of the work adds the detail that matters for anyone blaming the cold:

Three cautions apply before you apply this to a scar. First, participants were mostly people with arthritis, so this is not a scar study. Second, it is observational: it shows association, not cause. Third, the authors themselves note there “remains no scientific consensus” on the weather–pain relationship. What we take from it is modest but useful: if your scar aches on grey, damp, blustery days, you are describing a pattern that a large dataset also found in other pain conditions — and plain cold alone was not the clearest culprit.

Three mechanisms people point to — and how well each is supported

1. Cold makes scar tissue stiffer and less forgiving. A UPMC HealthBeat article reviewed by sports-medicine physician Matthew Heitzenrater, DO (17 March 2025), says “Cold weather can trigger tissue swelling,” which can “put pressure on nerves and cause older injuries and sensitive areas to act up,” and that “Lower temperatures constrict blood vessels and blood flow.” On scars specifically it says the surgery site and scar tissue “may also become more tense or strained because the area is less pliable in colder weather.” This is a clinician’s explanation in a patient article, not a measured scar experiment. It fits what many people feel — the pulling, tight sensation that our guide to why a scar feels tight breaks down — but treat it as a reasonable account rather than a proven mechanism.

2. The nerves in and around the scar are more reactive than normal skin. In a chapter on scar pain and itch in the Textbook on Scar Management (Springer, 2020), Farrukh and Goutos describe pain and itch as the most common scar symptoms, often severe and persistent after the wound has closed, and link them to neuropathic mechanisms — sensitised nerve endings in the skin and changes in how the spinal cord processes signals. The chapter draws mainly on burn, hypertrophic and keloid scars, so it describes the more troublesome end of scarring rather than every fine line. For surgical pain that persists, a systematic review of 281 studies (Haroutiunian and colleagues, Pain, 2013) found a neuropathic component in a high share of cases: probable or definite neuropathic pain in 66% of people with persistent pain after thoracic surgery and 68% after breast surgery, and 31% after groin hernia repair. That is the proportion among people whose pain persisted, not the proportion of all patients, and it is not a weather finding — but it shows why a scar region can be reactive to a change that normal skin ignores.

3. Cold sensitivity after a nerve injury. This is the best-documented link between cold and an injured area, though it comes from hand surgery rather than scars in general. Ruijs and colleagues (Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume), 2007) studied 107 patients 2 to 10 years after median, ulnar or combined nerve injuries and reported that “Fifty-six percent of the patients with a single nerve injury and 70% with a combined nerve injury suffered abnormal cold intolerance.” Patients with no return of sensation had dramatically higher cold-intolerance scores, and the scores did not decrease over the years. A longer follow-up by Carlsson and Dahlin (BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 2014) found a more hopeful picture in traumatic hand injuries: abnormal cold-sensitivity scores in 39 of 86 patients (about 45%) at one year and 17 of 60 (28%) at eight years, with the median score falling from 45 to 36. A 2023 systematic review of 17 studies (Greene and colleagues, Hand Surgery and Rehabilitation) states that cold intolerance “does not resolve over time for the vast majority of patients,” and found low efficacy and high risk of bias for self-management and behavioural approaches, with no evidence for medication. The three sources disagree on how much improvement to expect, which is itself informative: improvement is possible, but it is neither guaranteed nor fast. These are hand-nerve-injury data; use them to understand the phenomenon, not to predict your own scar.

Which of these is most likely yours? A comparison

This table is our synthesis of the sources above — an orientation aid, not a diagnosis.

Many people will have a mixture. And if your scar is numb as well as sore in the cold, our piece on why a scar goes numb covers the nerve side of the story.

The 4-week weather log: find your trigger

This is our own protocol, not a clinical test. It will not diagnose anything. It turns a vague “it hurts when it’s grim out” into something you can show a doctor and use to change your habits. Use it on a fully closed scar.

1. Pick one time each day — for example, before bed — and score the scar from 0 (nothing) to 10 (worst). Keep it to the scar itself, not general aches.
2. Add one word for the feel: tight, ache, burn, zing, itch or numb. The words matter: tight points toward stiffness, burn or zing toward the nerves.
3. Record three conditions from your weather app: humidity, wind and temperature. Add “heating on?” and “was the scar uncovered outside?” — indoor heating and wind on bare skin can swamp the weather figure.
4. Add what you did: long drive, gym, lifting, a day on your feet. Activity alone can make a scar sore, and the Manchester team checked mood and activity for the same reason.
5. After four weeks, sort the days into thirds by score and compare the worst third with the best third. Look for the variable that differs most: humidity, wind, temperature, or something unrelated to weather.

What may help on a bad-weather day

The evidence for scar-specific remedies here is thin, so these are practical suggestions, not proven treatments. Keep the scar covered and warm outdoors, since the cold-tissue and wind-on-skin explanations both point that way. Follow whatever massage and movement routine your surgical or physio team gave you; our piece on massaging a scar too much lists the stop signs. Do not apply direct heat packs to scar skin that has reduced feeling, because you may not feel a burn. If your scar was recently closed, check when you can start scar products first. The Farrukh and Goutos chapter notes that combining approaches often works better than any single measure for scar pain, and that the options for persistent scar pain include prescription routes — which is a conversation for a clinician, not something to improvise.

When to ask for advice

• The scar is swollen, painful, warm to the touch or has pus. The NHS “Scars” page (reviewed 18 September 2023) lists a scar that is “swollen or painful,” “feels warm to the touch,” or has “pus coming out of it” as reasons to seek urgent advice from a GP or NHS 111.
• The scar is painful or bothering you at all. The same NHS page advises seeing a GP if you have a scar that is painful or bothering you; they may be able to suggest treatments.
• Burning pain with temperature or colour change and swelling in a limb after injury or surgery. The NIH (NINDS) fact sheet on complex regional pain syndrome lists burning pain, a limb that feels warmer or cooler than the other, blotchy or colour-changed skin and swelling, and says diagnosis “is easiest early in the disorder and should not be delayed.” We are not saying a weather-sensitive scar means CRPS — most do not — but this cluster is not one to wait on.
• Pain that is worsening, spreading or keeping you awake. Weather-linked soreness should come and go; a steady build is a different signal.
• Cold triggers sharp pain, numbness or colour change in a finger, hand or other area that had nerve damage. This is the cold-intolerance pattern from the hand-surgery studies; your surgeon can assess it.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my scar hurt when the weather changes?

No trial has pinned down the cause for scars. Plausible contributors are cold making scar tissue less pliable and reducing blood flow (a UPMC physician’s explanation), a reactive nerve supply around the scar, and damp, windy, low-pressure days, which were linked to more pain in a large app-based study of mostly arthritis patients.

Is it the cold or the damp that sets off scar pain?

In the Cloudy with a Chance of Pain study, high humidity was the strongest weather factor, with low pressure and wind weaker, and temperature alone showed no association on average. That is population data from people with mixed pain conditions, so your scar may differ — which is why a four-week log is worth doing.

Is it normal for an old scar to ache in cold weather?

It is commonly reported and clinicians describe it, but it is not guaranteed or harmless in every case. If an old scar becomes newly painful, swollen, warm or discharging, or the pain is worsening, see your GP. The NHS advises seeing a GP for any scar that is painful or bothering you.

Does cold sensitivity after an injury go away?

Sources disagree on how much. In hand nerve injuries, 56–70% had abnormal cold intolerance 2–10 years later in one study, scores did not fall over the years, and a 2023 review says it does not resolve for the vast majority; an eight-year follow-up found abnormal scores fell from about 45% to 28%. That is hand-injury data, not a forecast for every scar.

Can I stop my scar hurting in the cold?

The evidence for specific fixes is limited. Keeping the area covered and warm, following your team’s movement and massage advice, and avoiding direct heat on skin with reduced feeling are sensible. A 2023 review found low-quality evidence for self-management approaches to cold intolerance, so persistent pain deserves a clinician’s review.

Could weather-related scar pain be nerve damage?

It can be part of the picture, particularly if the scar is also numb, burns or zings in the cold. Many people with weather-sensitive scars have ordinary stiffness instead. A burning, zinging or colour-changing pattern is worth showing to your surgeon or GP.

Can a scar cream stop weather-related scar pain?

Nothing we read shows that a surface product changes scar sensitivity. A cosmetic lipid concentrate such as ScarDerma Pro supports the look and feel of a fully closed scar’s surface, which can feel more comfortable in dry, cold air, but it is not a pain product. Patch-test first.

This article is general information, not medical advice, and does not replace your surgeon’s or GP’s advice for your own scar. The weather log and comparison tables are our own orientation aids, not clinical tests. ScarDerma Pro is a cosmetic product intended to support the appearance of fully closed skin; it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition. See a doctor if a scar is painful, swollen, warm, discharging or accompanied by colour change or burning pain.

Sources

1. Dixon WG, Beukenhorst AL, Yimer BB, et al. How the weather affects the pain of citizen scientists using a smartphone app. npj Digital Medicine. 2019;2:105. doi:10.1038/s41746-019-0180-3. research.manchester.ac.uk (abstract read)
2. University of Manchester. Cloudy with a Chance of Pain smartphone study shows pain more likely on humid, windy days (press release, 24 October 2019). manchester.ac.uk
3. UPMC HealthBeat. How Cold Weather Affects Injuries; reviewed by Matthew Steven Heitzenrater, DO; 17 March 2025. upmc.com
4. Farrukh O, Goutos I. Scar Symptoms: Pruritus and Pain. In: Textbook on Scar Management. Springer; 2020:87–101. link.springer.com
5. Haroutiunian S, Nikolajsen L, Finnerup NB, Jensen TS. The neuropathic component in persistent postsurgical pain: a systematic literature review. Pain. 2013;154(1):95–102. profiles.wustl.edu (abstract read)
6. Ruijs ACJ, Jaquet JB, van Riel WG, Daanen HAM, Hovius SER. Cold intolerance following median and ulnar nerve injuries: prognosis and predictors. J Hand Surg (Eur Vol). 2007;32(4):434–439. repub.eur.nl (abstract read)
7. Carlsson IK, Dahlin LB. Self-reported cold sensitivity in patients with traumatic hand injuries or hand-arm vibration syndrome: an eight year follow up. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2014;15:83. biomedcentral.com
8. Greene BHC, Gudimella R, Corkum J, Boone H, Samargandi OA, Williams J. Managing cold intolerance after hand injury: a systematic review. Hand Surg Rehabil. 2023. doi:10.1016/j.hansur.2023.01.007. em-consulte.com (abstract read)
9. NHS. Scars (treatment page; reviewed 18 September 2023). nhs.uk
10. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (NIH Publication No. 20-NS-4173, September 2020). ninds.nih.gov