Keloid

It’s bad enough that you have a scar, what more if it turns to a bigger, more hideous mark that looks like red cocoons and solid spider webs? Keloid, an over growth of dense fibrous tissue that develops after a wound has healed, may just be one of the most unattractive skin mark that one can have. Keloids can spring from as little as an acne scar to seamlessly innocent body piercings and injections sites.

Researchers have yet to point out what really triggers the formation of keloids because it seems a little random, occurring only on certain scars for a single person. There had been suggestions that changes in cellular signals that control growth may be responsible for keloid formation, so one person is more susceptible to form such at a certain period in their life than on others, but this is still just another theory.

Prevention is also quite muddled as experts can only suggest that once your scar forms in to a keloid, the best thing to do is to avoid another injury. Others suggest minimizing sun exposure which is recommended whether you are a keloid former or not.

Once you already have a keloid, the only question left is, can it still be removed?

WHAT ARE YOUR TREATMENT OPTIONS?

There are several treatments that can be recommended to correct your keloid concerns depending on the result that you want to achieve. At Yoskarn Clinic, we offer 3 solutions, the steroid injection, the laser treatment, and the scar correction which is surgical in nature.

Steroid Injection is the treatment for which steroid shots will be injected directly to the lesion. These medications will work to flatten the keloid scars though there is a possibility of pigmentation of the scar after. The main purpose of the injection is actually to lessen the prominence of the keloid.

This treatment is repeated at least once a month until the desired result is achieved, after which, touch ups may be necessary to maintain the result once the scar starts to grow again.

For the Laser Treatment, the main focus is to reduce the redness of the keloid rather than the size. Though there are patients who showed significant reduction on the size of the keloids as well as the color, these are quite a minority. Laser treatments are however found to be more promising than the steroid injection alone.

The last option is the Surgical Removal of the scar. Though the risk of having a bigger keloid scar is also possible, surgeons are improving their ways to minimize this possibility by using a serial resection technique and followed after the last session of surgical resection by low dosage radiotherapy for 3 consecutive days. The new scar is then treated with occlusive or pressure dressing such as silicone sheets to avoid the formation of another keloid. These combined modality can significantly reduce the chance of recurrence of keloid scars.

Depending on the result that you want, the size of your keloid, and the risk you want to take, our surgeon, Prof. Somyos Kunachak, will be able to offer you a treatment that will help improve your keloid scar.