Proper Name:
Keloids
Common Name:
Keloids or Keloid Scars
Age of Onset:
This skin disease can occur at any age.
Duration:
Keloids will last an entire lifetime if not treated.
Males/Females/Ethnic Groups:
African-Americans are much more likely to have Keloids, although anyone can get them.
Causes:
The cause is relatively unknown, but a few things are certain. Keloids are scar tissues that form sometime after a small injury or cut (such as insect bites, infected piercing sites, acne, or burns). This scar tissue grows rapidly and migrates to areas that were never infected. This tissue becomes hard and results in unsightly growths varying in size. These scar tissues never become malignant.
Symptoms:
Keloids are abnormal growths which are reddish pink, shiny, dome-shaped, raised, tender, and itchy.
Prognosis: Keloids are not life threatening. If left untreated they can either grow larger, remain on the body forever, or spontaneously resolve just as they appeared. These abnormal scar tissues are very unpredictable, and every case is different.
Treatment:
- Cortisone injections: This is safe and not very painful. Injections are usually given once a month until the keloids are flattened. However, steroid injections can also make the flattened keloid redder by stimulating the formation of more superficial blood vessels.
- Surgery: This is risky, because cutting a keloid can trigger the formation of a similar or even larger keloid.
- Laser: The pulsed-dye laser can be effective at flattening keloids and making them look less red. Treatment is safe and not very painful, but several treatment sessions may be needed.
- Silicone sheets: This involves wearing a sheet of silicone gel on the affected area for several hours a day for weeks or months, which is hard to sustain. Results vary.
- Cryotherapy: Freezing keloids with liquid nitrogen may flatten them, but often darkens the site of treatment.
For More Information: http://www.medicinenet.com/keloid/page3.htm
