Research has shown that gently massaging a scar may break down scar tissue as it forms. It may also prevent hypertrophic scars or keloids from developing after an injury.
Larger keloids can be flattened by pulsed-dye laser sessions. This method has also been useful in easing itchiness and causing keloids to fade. Pulsed-dye laser therapy is delivered over several sessions with 4 to 8 weeks between sessions. Your doctor might recommend combining laser therapy with cortisone injections.
Pressure Treatment
Compression dressing around the keloid scar or pressure earrings applied continuously for a period of 6 to 12 months can shrink a keloid significantly by reducing blood flow to the affected area. This is especially effective post a keloid surgery to prevent them from returning.
Pressure can prevent the thickening skin from turning into a keloid. To be effective, you need to start with the pressure as soon as you notice thickening skin. A dermatologist can fit you with a pressure garment or earring. Adding another keloid treatment like injections of corticosteroids may also help.
Dermatologists may inject a corticosteroid solution directly into a hypertrophic scar or keloid, which may help reduce its size. Steroids break the bonds between collagen fibers, which reduces the amount of scar tissue beneath the skin.
Keloids rarely go away on their own, but they don't generally need to be treated unless they're causing discomfort or are affecting how you feel about your appearance. If they're surgically removed, they often grow back.
Research has shown that gently massaging a scar may break down scar tissue as it forms. It may also prevent hypertrophic scars or keloids from developing after an injury.
Ear keloids are a type of scar tissue, so there isn't any pus to squeeze out, like a pimple. Trying to pop a keloid on your ear can damage your skin and introduce bacteria, which can cause an infection.
Try to avoid injuring your skin. Consider not getting body piercings, tattoos and elective surgeries. Even minor injuries — such as ingrown hairs, cuts and scratches — can incite a keloid to grow.
Conclusion: Keloids never completely disappear to leave skin with normal texture, however they can resolve (flatten and soften) so they no longer burden patients in approximately one third of cases. Scars resolving spontaneously do so early in the disease. Those that don't may resolve after many years of treatment.
Unlike a hypertrophic scar, a keloid doesn't fade with time. To reduce the appearance of a keloid, you need to treat it.
Once you have them, keloids are notoriously difficult to eliminate and have a very high chance of re-growing once they are surgically cut out. This is because the body is likely to respond in the same exaggerated way to this surgery as it did to the initial injury.
Use Vaseline® Jelly for Scars
It creates a protective barrier on the skin's surface to lock in moisture to help protect skin while it heals. By sealing in moisture it also helps to reduce dryness of scarred skin, once your skin has healed.
Aloe Vera Gel
It plays a quintessential role in reducing the size of the keloids and also minimises soreness, inflammation and helps in the healing of the scar tissue. Apply the fresh gel from the leaves directly onto the affected scar tissue and leave it on throughout the night.
Called cryotherapy, this can be used to reduce the hardness and size of the keloid. It works best on small keloids.
Cryotherapy, also known as Cryo-surgery is the application of extreme cold to treat or destroy keloids. Cryotherapy is the most effective, safest, most economical, and easy-to-perform method of treating most bulky and thick keloids.
However, it's important to not scratch the scar while it's healing. When scar tissue is forming, scratching will only cause abrasion on the skin, forcing even more scar tissue to form to repair itself. This causes keloid scars to grow due to the excess growth of scar tissue.
You should carry on massaging your scars for at least three to six months after your surgery or injury.
Massaging your scars is important. It keeps the tissue around the incision loose so it doesn't “stick” to the tissue underneath. Wait until after your skin has healed before you start massaging your scar. Your skin will be healed when the edges of the scar are well closed with no gaps, and have no drainage.
While a keloid is growing, it may feel tender or painful. It may itch or cause a burning sensation. Symptoms tend to end when the keloid stops growing, but not always.
It is a result of an overgrowth of granulation tissue (collagen type 3) at the site of a healed skin injury which is then slowly replaced by collagen type 1. Keloids are firm, rubbery lesions or shiny, fibrous nodules, and can vary from pink to the color of the person's skin or red to dark brown in color.
Between 50% and 80% of keloids shrink after being injected. Many of these keloids, however, will regrow within five years. To improve results, your dermatologists may follow these injections with one or more treatments like keloid surgery or prescribe a pressure garment.
You can get keloid scars on any part of the body, but they're most common on the chest, shoulders, chin, neck, lower legs and ears. A keloid scar usually grows for months or years and becomes bigger than the original wound. While it's growing, it may feel itchy or painful. This usually stops once it's finished growing.