Even minor injuries — such as ingrown hairs, cuts and scratches — can incite a keloid to grow.
Do Not Touch! When your skin is going through the scarring process, it can become unbearably itchy. 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.
Researchers know that the body produces more collagen than its needs to heal the injured skin. That's why the keloid scar grows bigger than the wound that caused it.
After the wound heals, apply silicone gel sheets or silicone gel. You can buy both of these products without a prescription. They can help prevent a keloid. To get the best results, you apply a new sheet or gel to the area every day.
Background: Keloid scars can itch and hurt, but little is known about the characteristics of these symptoms in keloids. Because itch and pain are carried by small nerve fibers, abnormal function of these fibers could be an explanation for such phenomena.
Remember that keloids aren't harmful or a sign of cancer. So there's no medical reason to have them removed. But if you would like to pursue the idea because they cause discomfort or you simply don't like the way they look, there are some options out there.
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.
Do keloids go away? Unlike a hypertrophic scar, a keloid doesn't fade with time. To reduce the appearance of a keloid, you need to treat it. When it comes to treatment, no one treatment works best for all keloids.
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.
Keloids can continue to grow for months or even years. They eventually stop growing but they do not disappear without treatment. In some cases, as mentioned above, keloids can return after they have been removed.
Most keloids continue to grow for weeks or months after they appear. A few grow for years. Growth tends to be slow. Occasionally, a keloid grows quickly.
Keloids are a result of aberrant wound healing. Standard wound healing consists of three phases: (1) inflammatory, (2) fibroblastic, and (3) maturation.
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.
Called cryotherapy, this can be used to reduce the hardness and size of the keloid. It works best on small keloids.
Using the following tips to treat the area may help prevent keloid growth. Cover a new wound with a thin layer of petroleum jelly, such as Vaseline, and a nonstick bandage. Hold the bandage in place with tape so that there is even pressure on the wound. Wash the area with soap and water every day.
The cost of keloid removal ranges from $75 to upward of $2,000 depending on the type and duration of treatment. Keloid removal is considered a cosmetic procedure, therefore is not usually covered by health insurance.
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.
Keloid scars are usually raised, hard, smooth and shiny. They can be skin colour, pink, red, purple, brown, or darker than the skin around them. 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.
It may be very tempting to squeeze an ear keloid. However, you can't pop an ear keloid. 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.
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.