Internal scar tissue is scar tissue that forms inside the body. You may also hear internal scar tissue called internal adhesions or simply adhesions. Depending on where a scar forms, it may not present any medical problems or it may lead to serious health problems. For severe adhesions, patients may require surgery.
Scars are the body's response to injury. When the body is injured, it tries to repair the injured site as quickly as possible. With a minor injury, the body can restore the tissue to its previous state. More commonly, the tissue is replaced with an inferior barrier of scar tissue that cannot completely replace the missing tissue. Scars often don't get enough blood, so they appear paler than the surrounding tissue.
Inside the body, internal scar tissue forms as a result of trauma. Surgery is a common cause of adhesions, and it can also result from heart attacks, which cause scarring of the heart muscle, along with serious injuries such as torn muscles and ligaments. Inflammatory disease can also cause internal scar tissue. In some cases, internal scar tissue goes unnoticed by its owner, illustrating the body's ability to repair itself in a fairly orderly fashion when in good health.
In other cases, however, internal scar tissue forms an adhesion. An adhesion is a link between two things that were not previously joined. For example, an adhesion could cause an organ to stick to the wall of the abdominal cavity or could cause a blockage of the intestine. Adhesions are often quite painful because they restrict the freedom of movement of the organ(s) involved. Adhesions caused by pelvic inflammatory disease, for example, can cause the reproductive organs to twist, resulting in severe pain and fertility problems.
Surgical techniques have advanced to the point where adhesions are relatively rare, thanks to tools such as adhesion barriers. However, internal scar tissue can still be caused by things like sports accidents and inflammatory conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. Chronic conditions are more likely to cause adhesions and internal scar tissue, and it's a good idea to talk to a doctor about managing these conditions and possible treatments for the resulting internal scarring, ranging from steroid injections to surgery.
Doctors can check for adhesions with tools like ultrasound machines. Depending on the thickness of an adhesion, it can show up easily on ultrasound, or it can present as a cloudy form. Once a doctor has confirmed that adhesions are present and has measured their severity, treatment options can be considered.