Keloid Scars - Their Causes and Treatment

A Keloid is a Scar which rises above the rest of the skin and is pink or purple in color.  It is irregular in shape and goes on increasing quite rapidly.  These types of scars do not diminish and are often permanent.  Keloid scars are often found after a surgery or an injury.  But they can also appear by acne or due to inflammation.  Sometimes they appear after an occurrence of an injury or procedure.  These scars go beyond the actual size of the wound.

There is no specific reason for the cause of Keloids but in most probability control growth and proliferation can be summed up to be the main causes of these types of scars.  But these studies have not been scientifically proved.

Keloid scars are often found on chests, shoulders and earlobes.  These types of scars rarely occur on face.  It has been found that keloid scars are more frequently seen on dark-skinned people such as people of Asian and African origins.  Keloid scars are very obvious and causes disfigurement and at times may also limit the mobility of a person if they are observed on joints.  Along with being a problem for cosmetic conscious people, these scars are also quite itchy as well as painful.

It has also been seen that keloid scars obviously happen due to piercing or tattooing and as such people with a history of keloid scars should avoid going in for such activities.  As keloids cannot be removed easily, prevention is the bet care for keloids.

Treatment for Keloid Scars – Keloid scars are very difficult to be treated and there is no guarantee that they can be taken off completely.  Some of the methods practiced are:

·        Steroid Injections – These are called cortisone Injections.  These are administered once in a month and are continued till the scar is diminished.  But these injections do not remove the scar indefinitely as the best of treatment may leave the skin with a small scar which is obvious in comparison with the rest of the skin.

·        Surgery – This type of method is risky and there is always the risk of keloid scar originating in some other place.  Taking off the scar permanently may at times help the person, but the success ratio is not very high.

·        Laser Treatment – Laser treatment such as pulsed-dye laser is used to flatten the scar.  This may require several sessions for its diminishing effect and can prove quite costly.  But this sure is an effective method which is quite painless.

·        Cryotherapy is used at times which include freezing the scar with liquid nitrogen but these can leave a dark patch on the area.

·        Silicon gel sheets are placed over the keloid scar and left for several hours a day.  But the results again vary and these are not truly successful.

·        Injection of interferon is used to help the body attain immunity against viruses and bacteria.  These injections can show some promising results but are yet to be studied scientifically if they can help in treating keloid scars.

·        Along with the above methods of treatment, Radiation method is also used at times.

As such it can be summarized that keloid scars cannot be removed completely except by Surgery, but they can be diminished to a great extent by various treatment methods discussed above.  These scars, once seen, are there to stay.