About Keloids :

A keloid or a keloid scar, is a tough heaped-up scar that rises quite abruptly above the rest of the skin. It usually has a smooth top and a pink or purple color. Keloids are irregularly shaped and tend to enlarge progressively. Unlike scars, keloids do not regress over time.

​

Causes :

• Reason for keloid formation still not very clear.

Risk factors :

• More common in darker skin

• Happens equally in both males and females. 

• Less common in children and elderly.

• Genetic predisposition

Presentation 

• ​Most often on the chest, back, shoulders, and earlobes.

• Rarely on the face (with the exception of the jawline).

Difference between Keloids, Hypertrophic Scar and Dermatofibroma

• Keloids may start as a cutaneous injury and extend beyond the wound site. This tendency to migrate into surrounding areas that weren't injured originally distinguishes keloids from hypertrophic scars. Keloids typically appear following surgery or injury, but they can also as a result of some minor inflammation

• Hypertrophic scars are thickened, but confined to the margin of the original wound. Hypertrophic scars tend to be redder and often regress spontaneously (a process which can take one year or more).

• A dermatofibroma is a small, benign, pigmented, very firm bump in the skin that does not cause other symptoms. It is most often found on the legs and are about ½ to ¾ of an inch and remain unchanged over many years.​

Myths v/s reality

• Once you get keloids, you are predisposed to repeated keloid formation.

• There is no one treatment, which can cure keloids. Its a combination of multiple treatment modalities.