Background Poor wound healing and scar formation remain a critical problem in daily surgical practice. Generally, most attention is paid to intra-and postoperative interventions to improve wound healing after surgery, while preoperative interventions remain explored unsatisfactorily. Objective In this systematic review, the available literature on the beneficial effects of preoperative interventions on wound healing and scar formation has been summarized and compared. Methods A comprehensive and systematic search has been conducted in MEDLINE, Pubmed, Embase, Web of science and Cochrane, supplemented by reference and citation tracking. All preoperative interventions and all clinically relevant outcome parameters have been considered for inclusion, due to expected limited availability of literature. Results A total of thirteen studies were included, which were all randomized trials. No cohort studies or retrospective studies have been identified. All studies described different preoperative interventions and outcome parameters and could hence not be pooled and compared. Eight studies showed significantly better wound healing after a preoperative intervention. The individual studies have been summarized in this review. Conclusion This systemic review shows that preoperative interventions can be beneficial in improving wound healing and scar formation. In selected cases, wound healing was found to benefit from a higher preoperative body temperature, topical vitamin E application and low patient stress levels.