You may be embarrassed about how they look. But having keloids can be upsetting to you.
Dark skinned people form keloids more easily than Caucasians.Ī keloid is harmless to general health and does not change into a skin cancer. While most people never form keloids, others develop them after minor injuries, burns, insect bites and acne spots. The precise reason that wound healing sometimes leads to keloid formation is under investigation but is not yet clear. Keloids sometimes show up 3 months or more after your skin is injured. Keloids can also develop after you get a body piercing or a tattoo, or have surgery. This includes being burned, cut, or having severe acne. Keloids may form on any part of the body, although the upper chest and shoulders are especially prone to them.Īnything that can cause a scar can cause a keloid. Keloids may be uncomfortable or itchy, and may be much larger than the original wound. Keloids can grow to be much larger than the original injury that caused the scar. A keloid scar can arise soon after an injury, or develop months later. A keloid scar is a firm, smooth, hard growth due to spontaneous scar formation. Among these treatments are surgical excision with or without grafting 10), pressure therapy 11), intralesional interferon 12), topical and intralesional corticosteroids 13), intralesional bleomycin 14), laser therapy 15), silicone gel sheeting 16), onion extract gel and other therapies directed at collagen synthesis 17). A wide variety of treatments have been advocated for hypertrophic scars. Numerous methods have been described for the treatment of hypertrophic scars, but to date, the optimal treatment method has not been established 9). The cause of pruritus (itchiness) in hypertrophic scars and keloid scars is not yet well characterized, but recent studies have indicated the probable involvement of direct activation of opioid receptors identified in the skin (46). A previous study reported that the most common and distressing complications in burn patients who developed hypertrophic scars were abnormal appearance (75.2%), pruritus (73.3%) and pain (67.6%) 8). Previous studies have reported diverging incidences of hypertrophic scarring, with incidence rates varying from 40% to 94% following surgery and from 30% to 91% following burns 7). In the developed world, approximately four million patients acquire scars due to burns each year and the incidence is even greater in developing countries 6). Hypertrophic scars are a common complication of burn injury. Hypertrophic scarring following surgical procedures, trauma and especially burns is a significant concern for patients and a challenging problem for clinicians because it can be painful, pruritic, erythematous, raised and cosmetically unacceptable. Keloids are more common in patients with darker skin, with an incidence of 4.5% to 16% in the black and Hispanic populations 5). This observation is partly attributed to the following facts: young individuals are more prone to trauma their skin generally possesses more elastic fibers, resulting in greater tension and the rate of collagen synthesis is greater in younger individuals 4). The elderly rarely develop these lesions 3). The majority of individuals who develop hypertrophic scars and keloids are young, with ages ranging from 10 to 30 years old. Hypertrophic scars are characterized by proliferation of the dermal tissue, with excessive deposition of fibroblast-derived extracellular matrix proteins and especially collagen, over long periods and by persistent inflammation and fibrosis 2). If there is a lot of tension on a healing wound, the healing area is rather thicker and elevated than usual. Over several months, a scar usually becomes flat and pale. As wounds heal, scar tissue forms, which at first is often red and somewhat prominent. Scar formation is a consequence of the wound healing process that occurs when body tissues are damaged by a physical injury.
Hypertrophic scars are defined as visible and elevated scars that do not spread into surrounding tissues and that often regress spontaneously 1). Hypertrophic scar removal with combination therapy.
How to distinguish between hypertrophic scar from keloid.