Keloid - Symptoms and Treatment

Keloid is defined as an excessive growth of scar tissue at the site of a skin injury, common in dark-skinned people but unusual in fair-skinned people. Keloids are firm, rubbery lesions or shiny, fibrous nodules and can vary from pink to flesh-colored or red to dark brown in color. They often grow, and although harmless, non-contagious, and usually non-painful, they can be a cosmetic problem. A hypertrophic scar is a thick, raised, smooth area that is found over skin. It diminishes over a period of one year or more. A red, raised formation of fibrous scar tissue caused by excessive tissue repair in response to trauma or surgical incision. When the skin is injured, cells grow back to fill in the gap. Somehow, they "know" when the scar tissue is even with the contour of the skin, at which point they stop multiplying. When the cells keep on reproducing, the result is a what is called a overgrown scar or a keloid. The result is a keloid a tough heaped-up scar that rises quite abruptly above the rest of the skin. It is irregularly shaped and tends to enlarge progressively. In other words, keloids are due to an excessive response to trauma such as a cut to the skin. In creating a normal scar, connective tissue in the skin is repaired by the formation of collagen. Keloids arise when there is too much collagen formed in the dermis during the repair of connective tissue. To develop keloids, a person must be susceptible to keloid formation. For instance, keloids are known to have occurred in 5 successive generations within a single family. People of African or Asian descent are more likely to get keloids than people with lighter skin. These peoples tend to have keloid susceptibility genes. This tendency to form keloids is important when someone of African or Asian descent is considering elective plastic surgery; the surgery can cause more trouble than it cures.

Causes of Keloid

Common Causes of Keloid :

• Exposure to the sun, is also responsible in the formation of keloid.
• A deficiency or an excess in melanocyte hormone (MSH), decreased percentages of mature collagen and increased soluble collagen, are among the main causes of keloid.
• Between 10-30 years old.
• Scars from acne , vaccinations, or chickenpox.
• If someone in your family has keloids then you are at increased risk of get affected by it.
• Skin trauma i.e. skin or muscle tension (the upper arm and back) seem to contribute to keloid formation.
• Family history.
• African American, Asian, or Hispanic ethnicity.

Symptoms of Keloid

Some common Symptoms of Keloid :

• Itchiness.
• Located over the site of a wound, injury, or other lesion.
• Burning.
• Nodular or ridged.
• Pain.
• Tenderness .
• Flesh-colored, red, or pink.

Treatment of Keloid

• Cryotherapy.
• Surgical excision (but may result in a second keloid even larger than the original one).
• Corticosteroid injection, repeated every few weeks.
• Silicone gel dressings.
• Radiation treatments may reduce scar formation if they are used soon after a surgery, during the time a surgical wound is healing.
• The keloids disease may be treated with lasers. Lasers may lessen the redness but, unfortunately, they do little or nothing to the bulk of the keloid.
• Long-term compression of keloids with pressure bandages can help soften them.

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