DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I once shaved with a dull razor, which left me with an ingrown hair that turned into a keloid. What can you tell me about a keloid? Is there a way to treat them other than with surgery or a shot with a needle? Is there a cream or pill that works? — J.G.
A: Keloids are overgrown scars due to an unrestrained output of collagen. Collagen is a protein found everywhere in the body. It’s the body’s chief support and patching material. When skin is cut, collagen fills the gap — creating a scar.
When collagen production goes wild, the resulting scar is a keloid. It’s a shiny, smooth, raised scar that extends beyond the edges of the cut and into normal skin. The scar becomes thick and disfiguring. Sometimes keloids hurt, itch or burn.
Even though you want to avoid surgery or shots, don’t dismiss them out of hand. Doctors can carefully remove a keloid and immediately begin a program to forestall a repeat keloid by injecting the edges of the new wound with a cortisone drug and sometimes follow the injection with radiation. Injections of cortisone directly into an old keloid can flatten it.
Simply applying a cortisone cream or ointment to the surface of a keloid might smooth it out, but the odds of its working aren’t too great.
Freezing keloids sometimes decreases their size, and lasers are used to shrink them.
Dermatologists and plastic surgeons are the doctors who have the greatest experience in dealing with keloids.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My sister, many friends and I have had cesarean sections. My scar is about an inch wide, but theirs are all an eighth of an inch. A doctor told me it was a keloid. What does that mean? — J.H.
A: A keloid is a scar that grows enormously large and invades normal skin. If your scar doesn’t do that, you might have a hypertrophic scar, one bigger than the ordinary scar but one that doesn’t extend beyond the borders of the cut skin edges. Unlike keloids, hypertrophic scars usually flatten in time.
Keloids and hypertrophic scars are most likely genetically programmed. People inherit genes that make them form these kinds of scars. Keloids are more common in blacks, Asians and Hispanics. The same kind of treatment used for keloids is used for hypertrophic scars.
Write to Dr. Donohue or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www. rbmamall.com.
