Why Is My Scar Numb? Will the Feeling Come Back — What Studies Show at 6 Months and 2 Years
Quick answer
A scar is numb because surgery cuts the tiny sensory nerves that run through the skin, and the patch they used to supply goes quiet. The Leicester’s Hospitals patient leaflet puts it simply: “When the surgeon cuts into the skin the small nerves in the skin are cut too.” Feeling can return in two ways — cut fibres grow back (at around 1 mm a day, according to an NHS hospital leaflet and a StatPearls review), and neighbouring intact nerves can send new fibres into the numb patch. In the one study we found that tracked the size of the numb area month by month, it shrank by roughly 70–77% between 2 weeks and 6 months after knee surgery. But the picture is not uniformly rosy: in a separate two-year study, only half of patients had fully recovered, and the Leicester leaflet says some nerves “sometimes never grow back.” Numbness that is stable or slowly shrinking is common; numbness that is spreading, or comes with weakness or burning pain, is a reason to call your surgical team. A 100% water-free botanical lipid concentrate such as ScarDerma Pro can support the look of a fully closed scar’s surface — it is a cosmetic product and makes no claim about nerves or sensation.
Last updated: 20 October 2026
What the top results miss
Search “why is my scar numb” and the first page is dominated by patient forums — C-section groups, knee-replacement boards, scoliosis and epilepsy communities — plus a handful of short articles. The best-known of them, a 2017 piece on a C-section scar, runs to roughly 375 words, quotes a single dermatologist, and says only that numbness resolves “in time.” None of the pages we opened gives a number: how big the numb patch is likely to be, how fast it shrinks, or what fraction of people are still numb two years on. This article does, using the two published studies we could open that measured it, and it compares what NHS hospital leaflets say for four different kinds of surgery — because the answer depends on where the cut is. It also gives you a safe way to track your own numb patch, and a plain list of the signs that mean ask.
Why a scar goes numb
Your skin is threaded with very fine sensory nerve endings that report touch, temperature and pain. A surgical incision, a deep graze or a burn cuts across some of them. The Leicester’s Hospitals leaflet on managing a sensitive scar after knee replacement (July 2024) says exactly this: the small nerves in the skin are cut along with the skin. Memorial Sloan Kettering’s guidance on caring for scars after skin surgery likewise says that after surgery the wound may be very red, swollen or feel numb. The cut nerve ends can no longer pass signals from the skin beyond the scar, so the strip along and beside the scar feels dull, wooden or absent.
Two points worth knowing. First, this is damage to small skin nerves, not to the large nerves that drive muscles; ordinary surgical numbness does not on its own mean your limb is injured. Second, the numb area is usually larger than the scar itself and often sits on one side of it, because the small nerves run across the line of the incision. In the knee-surgery studies below, the numb area was measured in tens of square centimetres — far bigger than a thin scar line.
How feeling comes back: two routes
Route 1 — the cut nerve grows back. The Northern Care Alliance NHS leaflet on digital nerve injury (reviewed January 2026) states that “nerves grow back at around 1mm per day,” that they “take many months to repair themselves,” and that the result “may not be known for two years or more.” A StatPearls review of nerve injury (Matos Cruz and De Jesus, updated August 2023) gives the same figure: “Axon regrowth is 1 mm/day from the site of injury.” Our own arithmetic from that figure: 1 mm a day is about 3 cm a month, so recovery that depends on fibres growing a distance plays out over months, not days. Both of those sources concern larger nerves (a finger nerve; peripheral nerves generally), so treat the speed as an upper reference point for small skin nerves rather than a prediction for your scar.
Route 2 — neighbouring nerves send in new fibres. A 1987 paper in the journal Pain (Inbal, Rousso, Ashur, Wall and Devor) studied five patients with hand nerve injuries who regained at least some sensation. In three of them, a fully numb patch far from the injury regained sensitivity too fast for regenerating fibres to have reached it; in two, local anaesthetic blocks showed the recovered skin was now supplied by a different, uninjured nerve. The authors concluded that “collateral sprouting appears to contribute to cutaneous sensory recovery in man as well as in animals.” It is a small study of hand injuries, so it shows the mechanism exists rather than how often it happens after a typical scar. But it helps explain why numb patches tend to shrink inward from their edges.
What the numb-area studies actually show
Two studies in the orthopaedic literature measured numbness after knee replacement, where the incision is long and the numb strip is easy to map. Both are knee studies, and neither is about C-section or breast scars, so read them as a picture of how the process can go rather than a forecast for every scar.
Study 1 — the numb area shrinks, but not in a straight line. Limtrakul and Tanavalee (Thai Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery, 2014) prospectively followed 58 total knee replacements through smaller-incision surgery, 29 with incisions of 10 cm or less and 29 with incisions over 10 cm, mapping numbness with a blunt pin at 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months. Mean numb area (cm²):
| Time after surgery | Incision ≤10 cm | Incision >10 cm |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks | 31.74 | 51.14 |
| 1 month | 30.94 | 39.50 |
| 3 months | 29.58 | 27.67 |
| 6 months | 9.60 | 11.83 |
| Change, 2 weeks to 6 months (our arithmetic) | about −70% | about −77% |
Two things stand out. The authors conclude that the numb area “depends on the length of skin incision” — the longer cut started with a bigger numb patch. And the shrinkage was uneven. In the short-incision group, the area barely moved for the first three months (31.74 to 29.58 cm², a fall of about 7% by our calculation) and then dropped by about two-thirds between month 3 and month 6. In practical terms, a numb patch that looks stuck at 6 or 12 weeks is not evidence that it will stay that way. That is our reading of one small study, not a rule.
Study 2 — at two years, half had recovered. Subramanian, Lateef and Massraf (Acta Orthopaedica Belgica, 2009) examined 32 patients six weeks and two years after primary knee replacement. At the start, 26 (81%) had numbness on the outer side of the incision and six (19%) had normal sensation; the numb area was large in 19 of the 26. The authors report that “fifty percent of our patients fully recovered from skin numbness at the end of two years,” and that patients with a small numb area had a more favourable outcome. The abstract does not say what happened to the other half beyond that they had not fully recovered. The honest reading is the combination: for many people the numb area shrinks a lot, and for a substantial minority some numbness is still there at two years. The Leicester leaflet says the same in plain words: these nerves “sometimes never grow back and the area can feel numb.”
What NHS leaflets say for other kinds of surgery
Because the studies above are knee studies, here is what the leaflets we could open say for other operations. They are not describing the same thing, so the timelines differ.
| Source | Type of surgery | What it says about numbness |
|---|---|---|
| St George’s Hospital NHS, “Scar Tissue Management – Post Natal” (Oct 2022; review date Oct 2024, now past) | C-section | The scar “may feel tender, itchy and numb in the first few weeks.” Gives no longer-term figure. Says a scar can take two years to fade to a smooth white line. |
| University Hospitals Plymouth NHS, “Post Caesarean Section” (C-454, June 2021; review date June 2023, now past) | C-section | Same wording: “tender, itchy and numb in the first few weeks.” Numbness is not listed among the reasons to contact a midwife or GP. |
| Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS, “After effects of breast cancer treatment” (undated) | Breast / underarm surgery | Pins and needles, burning or numbness “usually temporary and improve with time,” often disappearing over a few months; some people who had lymph nodes removed may have permanent numbness in the upper arm. |
| Leicester’s Hospitals, “Managing a sensitive scar after a knee replacement” (leaflet 1519, July 2024) | Knee replacement | Cut skin nerves “sometimes never grow back”; where they do, the skin can feel sensitive and tingly. No overall time frame given. |
| Northern Care Alliance NHS, “Digital Nerve Injury” (PI_SU_2190; reviewed Jan 2026) | Finger nerve injury or repair | Regrowth at about 1 mm a day; many months to repair; result “may not be known for two years or more.” |
| Acta Orthop Belg 2009 (above) | Knee replacement | 50% fully recovered at two years. |
| Thai J Orthop Surg 2014 (above) | Knee replacement | Numb area down about 70–77% by six months. |
Read together, there is no single honest answer to “how long?” The C-section leaflets mention only the first few weeks, and say nothing either way about longer-term numbness. The knee data and the finger-nerve leaflet point to a process that runs over many months and, for some people, two years or more. If you are asking because your numbness is months old, you are not unusual.
The sensations around numbness: what each usually means
Numbness is rarely the only change. This table sorts the sensations people describe, using what the leaflets and one review say. It is our synthesis, an orientation aid and not a diagnosis.
| What you feel | What the sources say | Usual reading |
|---|---|---|
| Dull, “wooden” or absent feeling along and beside the scar | Leicester: small skin nerves cut; some never grow back. Studies: area often shrinks over months. | Expected after incisions; track the size over time |
| Skin that is oddly sensitive or tingly, clothes feel strange | Leicester: the skin “can feel sensitive and tingly while you get used to the feeling of clothes touching your skin again”; for some people “very uncomfortable, even painful.” | Common as sensation returns; desensitising routines are suggested |
| Pins and needles, tingling, brief “electric” shooting pains | Northern Care Alliance: “normal after a nerve repair” — written for finger nerve repair. | Often a recovery sign, but tell your team if it is intense or persistent |
| Itching in or around the scar | St George’s and Plymouth list itching alongside numbness in the first weeks. A dermatologist quoted by one lifestyle site links itch to nerves regrowing; that is an opinion, not a measured finding. | Common early; see our separate scar-care posts for itchy silicone sheets |
| Light touch hurts, or heat/cold feel wrong | A 2025 scoping review in Burns (De Henau and colleagues; 19 studies) found functional sensibility in pathological scars appears disturbed, with more frequent allodynia and altered thermosensory thresholds, but evidence is too varied for firm conclusions. | Worth mentioning to your surgeon or GP, especially if it is not easing |
Staying safe on skin that can’t warn you
Numb skin does not tell you when something is wrong, which is why scar-care guidance and common sense both lean toward extra care. The points below are our own cautions, not findings from the studies, so apply them alongside whatever your surgical team has said.
- Heat and cold. Hot-water bottles, heat pads, car seat heaters and very hot showers can burn skin you cannot feel properly. Use a barrier layer and check the skin by eye afterwards. The same applies to ice packs.
- Sun. Scar skin and numb skin both tend to burn without the usual stinging warning. Cover it or use sunscreen on the fully healed scar.
- Friction. Waistbands, bra straps, shaving and tight dressings can rub unnoticed. Look for redness or blisters rather than waiting to feel them.
- Products. Patch-test anything new on a small patch of unbroken skin beside the scar and check it the next day by eye, since a numb patch may not tingle or sting if you are reacting.
- Massage pressure. You lose the pain feedback that normally stops you pressing too hard. Keep to the pressure your team has advised and look for blanching, redness, grazes or blisters afterwards. Our guide on massaging a scar too much covers the stop signs.
What helps while sensation is changing
The Leicester leaflet’s advice is for scars that have become over-sensitive rather than numb, but it is the only hospital routine we found that addresses altered scar sensation directly, so here is what it says. Start once the wound is closed and dry. Touch the area with different textures — a soft jumper, a towel, jeans — for as long as it takes to settle, which can be up to 10 minutes at first but is usually 2–3 minutes, twice a day. For massage, use firm pressure for 2 minutes twice a day, optionally with moisturiser, starting away from the sensitive spot and working toward it. Its key line: “It is important you do not avoid touching your scar just because it is sensitive.” The leaflet does not claim this speeds the return of feeling in a numb patch; its stated aim is to reduce sensitivity as the area becomes used to touch.
The 6-month numbness map: track your own patch safely
The Thai study mapped numbness with a blunt pin on paper at set visits. You can do a safer, simpler version at home. This is our own protocol, not a clinical test; it only tells you whether the patch is stable, shrinking or spreading, and it does not replace an examination by your surgeon. Use it only on a fully closed scar, with no sharp objects.
- Prepare. Gather tracing paper or a clear plastic sleeve, a fine marker, a cotton-wool ball and a ruler. Take your first photo with the ruler in frame. Date everything.
- Find the edge. With your eyes closed (or a helper watching), lightly touch the cotton wool on skin that feels normal and move it in small steps toward the scar. Mark the spot where the touch starts to feel duller or disappears. Repeat from several directions around the scar.
- Trace it. Join the marks, place the tracing paper over the area and draw the outline and the scar line. Write the date and a size note (for example, “about 4 cm from scar edge on the left”).
- Repeat every four weeks for six months. Same time of day, same position, same light touch. Compare the tracings side by side.
- Read the result. Edges drawing inward fits the pattern in the studies. A patch that looks unchanged for 12 weeks is not alarming on its own (Limtrakul’s short-incision group barely moved for three months). A patch that is flat at six months is worth showing your surgeon. A patch that is growing, or new numb areas appearing, is a reason to call rather than wait.
| Your log shows | What it fits | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Patch edges moving inward over weeks to months | The shrinking pattern seen in the knee studies | Keep tracking; no action needed |
| No change for 3 months | Can be a plateau before shrinkage (one small study) | Keep tracking; mention at your next check |
| No change at 6 months | Possible persistent numbness | Show your tracings to your surgeon or GP |
| Patch growing, new areas, or weakness, burning pain or new swelling and redness | Not the usual recovery pattern | Contact your surgical team or GP promptly |
When to ask for advice
- The numb area is spreading, or new areas are going numb. Recovery should shrink the patch, not grow it.
- You notice weakness, a droopy or heavy limb, or difficulty with fine movements. That points beyond small skin nerves.
- Burning, stabbing or shooting pain that does not settle. The Northern Care Alliance leaflet, written for finger nerve repair, advises seeking help for pain lasting more than 6 weeks; that threshold belongs to that context, but persistent pain is always worth raising.
- Signs of infection. Spreading redness, warmth, an unpleasant smell or yellow discharge — the same leaflet lists these as reasons to get help.
- No sign of recovery after a significant nerve injury. The StatPearls review says surgery is considered if there are no signs of recovery after three to six months. That applies to major nerve injuries, not to ordinary surgical numbness beside a scar, but it shows that a firm review point exists for the bigger cases. If you are unsure which you have, ask.
- You are simply worried. A short call to the clinic that did your surgery is always reasonable.
Where a water-free lipid concentrate fits: ScarDerma Pro
Be clear about the job. Nothing you put on the skin’s surface has been shown in anything we read to speed the return of nerve sensation, and ScarDerma Pro makes no such claim. What it is for is the look and feel of a scar surface once the skin is fully closed: a thin lipid film that gives your fingertips glide if you are massaging, and that supports a softer, smoother-looking scar. The Leicester leaflet itself suggests using moisturiser when massaging, so a lubricant has a practical role in the routine above.
ScarDerma Pro is a 100% water-free (anhydrous) botanical lipid concentrate, formulated by S. C. Aris. Because it contains no water, it needs no preservative system, and its lipids are chosen to sit in the outer layers of the skin rather than evaporating away. It leads with four actives — immortelle helichrysum, rosehip seed, tamanu and pomegranate seed — with Japanese camellia, geranium, English lavender and hemp seed as soothers, on a base of sea buckthorn, calendula, jojoba, hazelnut and vitamin E. There are no harsh acids or peels, no drying agents, no artificial fragrance and no parabens; it is vegan and non-GMO. One honest caveat: helichrysum, geranium and lavender are aromatic botanicals, so it is not a fragrance-free product. On numb skin that matters more than usual, because you may not feel an early reaction — patch test on unbroken skin beside the scar and check it by eye the next day.
In a customer survey, 91% said their marks looked flatter and smoother within six weeks and 94% would recommend it; these are survey responses, not clinical-trial results, and the survey did not measure sensation. It is rated 5.0 out of 5 from 62 reviews and carries a 90-day guarantee. See ScarDerma Pro →
The boundary, stated plainly: use it only on fully closed skin, apply a thin film, and follow your own team’s advice. If numbness is spreading or comes with weakness or burning pain, the next step is your surgeon or GP, not a bottle.
More from our scar cluster: why does my scar feel tight? · can you massage a scar too much? · reducing the appearance of a C-section scar · when can you start scar cream? · why is my scar still red? · why is my scar shiny? · do old scars ever fade?
Frequently asked questions
Why is my scar numb?
Because the small sensory nerves in the skin were cut along with the skin. The Leicester’s Hospitals leaflet says that when a surgeon cuts into the skin, the small nerves in the skin are cut too, and those nerves sometimes never grow back. The patch they supplied then feels dull or numb.
Will the feeling come back?
Often at least partly. In a 58-knee study, the average numb area fell by roughly 70–77% between 2 weeks and 6 months. In a separate two-year study, 50% of patients had fully recovered. Some people keep a patch of numbness, so recovery is likely for many but not guaranteed.
How long does a numb scar stay numb?
It varies by operation. C-section leaflets from St George’s and Plymouth mention numbness in the first few weeks; a breast-surgery page says it often disappears over a few months; the knee data and a finger-nerve leaflet point to many months or two years or more. No single figure covers all scars.
Is a numb scar normal after a C-section?
Numbness is described as part of early healing in two NHS C-section leaflets, which say the scar may feel “tender, itchy and numb in the first few weeks.” Neither says how long numbness can last beyond that, so if it is months old and not shrinking, mention it to your midwife, GP or surgeon.
Why does my numb scar also itch or tingle?
Tingling and sensitivity are described in hospital leaflets as common while feeling returns. The Northern Care Alliance leaflet calls pins and needles and brief electric-shock pains “normal after a nerve repair.” Tell your team if the sensation is intense or does not ease.
Can massage bring the feeling back?
We found no source showing that it does. The Leicester leaflet recommends touch and massage routines to reduce over-sensitivity and says not to avoid touching a sensitive scar, but it does not claim they restore feeling to a numb patch. Keep pressure moderate, as you can’t feel the usual warning.
Should I worry if my scar numbness isn’t improving?
Numbness that is stable is common, and one small study showed the area barely changing for three months before shrinking. If it has not changed at six months, or is spreading, or comes with weakness or burning pain, show your surgeon or GP.
Can a scar cream help a numb scar?
Nothing we read shows a cream restoring nerve sensation. A lubricant can make massage more comfortable and a cosmetic lipid concentrate such as ScarDerma Pro supports the look of a fully closed scar, but it is not a nerve product. Patch-test first, because you may not feel an early reaction on numb skin.
This article is general information, not medical advice, and does not replace your surgeon’s or GP’s advice for your own scar. The numbness map and safety cautions are our own orientation aids, not clinical tests. ScarDerma Pro is a cosmetic product intended to support the appearance of healed skin; it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition and should only be applied to fully closed skin. See a doctor if numbness is spreading or accompanied by weakness, burning pain, swelling, redness or discharge.
Sources
- Leicester’s Hospitals (University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust), Department of Orthopaedics. Managing a sensitive scar after a knee replacement. Leaflet 1519, version 1, July 2024; review July 2027. uhleicester.nhs.uk
- Limtrakul A, Tanavalee A. Area of skin numbness after less invasive total knee arthroplasty surgery: a prospective study. Thai J Orthop Surg. 2014;38(1–2):27–30. tci-thaijo.org
- Subramanian S, Lateef H, Massraf A. Cutaneous sensory loss following primary total knee arthroplasty: a two years follow-up study. Acta Orthop Belg. 2009;75(5). actaorthopaedica.be
- Northern Care Alliance NHS. General Surgery – Digital Nerve Injury. PI_SU_2190; reviewed January 2026. northerncarealliance.nhs.uk
- Matos Cruz AJ, De Jesus O. Neurotmesis. StatPearls [Internet]; updated 23 August 2023. NCBI Bookshelf NBK559108
- Inbal R, Rousso M, Ashur H, Wall PD, Devor M. Collateral sprouting in skin and sensory recovery after nerve injury in man. Pain. 1987;28(2):141–154. doi:10.1016/0304-3959(87)90112-6. cris.huji.ac.il
- St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Scar Tissue Management – Post Natal (THE_STM_03). October 2022; review date October 2024. stgeorges.nhs.uk
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust. Post Caesarean Section (C Section). Ref C-454, June 2021; review date June 2023. plymouthhospitals.nhs.uk
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. After effects of breast cancer treatment (undated patient page). bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk
- De Henau M, Schins S, Colla C, van den Kerckhove E, van der Hulst R, Tuinder S. Are symptoms in pathologic scars related to nerve function or density? A scoping review. Burns. 2025;51(1):107280. doi:10.1016/j.burns.2024.10.001. Maastricht University (abstract read)
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Caring for Your Scars After Skin Surgery. Updated 28 June 2024. mskcc.org