Table of contents:
- What causes keloids?
- How do you know if the wound is a keloid?
- What to do if you have keloids?
- How do I get rid of keloids?
Keloids are excess growths of skin tissue that appear around the wound after it heals. Instead of being flat, the keloids are thickened and spread outward beyond the area of the original wound. What causes keloids and how to get rid of them?
What causes keloids?
The cause of keloids is still uncertain. Doctors only know that people with darker skin are up to 15 times more likely to experience this extra skin growth than people with pale or white skin.
This thickening of the skin often occurs preceded by an injury or injury to the skin, which can result from:
- Acne
- Chicken pox
- Burns
- Piercing
- Claw wound
- Surgical incision
- Vaccine injection wound
Keloids usually appear on the chest, back, shoulders, and ears. Keloids rarely appear on the face, except on the jaw.
How do you know if the wound is a keloid?
Keloids are areas of skin that:
- Rough or thickened and more raised than the surrounding skin area.
- Shiny and convex shape
- The odd color ranges from pink to red
- Itching, pain and sometimes painful to the touch
Keloids can cause confidence problems because they sometimes appear quite large. In addition, the growth of the tissue can become hardened, restricting your body movement, even causing pain or irritation when rubbed against clothing or other forms of friction.
What to do if you have keloids?
Keloids are benign and don't need medical attention unless they are really bothersome. The extra skin tissue can be removed surgically.
However, a keloid that continues to grow out of control, with or without additional symptoms, can be a sign of a disorder such as cancer. In such cases, the person will need to visit a doctor and perform a visual examination, along with a biopsy to determine the true condition.
How do I get rid of keloids?
Keloid removal options include:
- Corticosteroid injections to reduce inflammation.
- Moisturizing oil to moisturize tissues, keeping them soft.
- Freezes tissue to kill skin cells.
- Laser treatment to reduce scar tissue.
- Radiation to shrink keloids.
For new keloids, your doctor may recommend less invasive treatments, such as silicone pads, bandages or injections.
For large or old keloids, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove the wound. However, because keloids are the result of the body's self-repairing mechanism, this method may not be effective.
As the Dermatology Online Journal points out, the chances of keloid sores coming back after surgery are quite high. The network may grow back at some later date and may be bigger than before. Steroid injections can be used to lower this risk.
Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
