Keloid Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment

What is Keloid Disorder?

Keloid Disorder is a skin condition in which there is abundant scar formation over a wound. Normally, whenever there is an injury to a skin due to any reason there is formation of a fibrous tissue called scar tissue over the wound to protect the injury and repair the wound. In some cases, what happens is that there is an overgrowth of this fibrous tissue or scar tissue resulting in formation of smooth growths. This growth due to abundant scar tissue is what is called as keloids and this condition is called as Keloid Disorder. The keloids that form over the wound can be much bigger than the actual wound themselves. They normally occur on wounds that occur in the chest, shoulders, or cheeks, although they may form in any part of the body. Keloid Disorder is a benign condition and keloids do not harm the health of an individual in any way but they may certainly be an eyesore for that individual.

What is Keloid Disorder?

What Causes Keloid Disorder?

As stated, keloid tends to grow over an injury scars. These scars may be acne scars, scars from a burn injury, scars formed due to herpes zoster virus, scars formed due to ear piercing, wound that may develop due to repeated scratching of the skin at a particular spot, surgical sites are also areas where keloids can appear along with vaccination sites. Some studies also suggest a genetic link to Keloid Disorder in that if an individual has a parent with this disorder then he or she is more prone to have Keloid Disorder than others.

What are the Symptoms of Keloid Disorder?

Symptoms of Keloid Disorder include:

  • Localized area of growth which may be pink or red in color
  • Raised area of skin
  • Area that continues to grow larger with scar tissue with time
  • Patch of skin that is overly itchy.

Apart from these symptoms, the area around the keloids may be tender to palpation. Wearing clothes around the area may also cause irritation to the skin.

How is Keloid Disorder Treated?

Treating Keloid Disorder is quite a tricky situation as keloids are actually the body’s attempt to repair a wound and hence removal of the keloid may result in recurrence of the scar tissue which may be bigger than the original one. Some of the treatment methodologies used for treating Keloid Disorder are:

  • Steroid injections to calm down the inflammation
  • Moisturizing the skin with moisturizers so that the tissues are soft
  • Using pressure pads after an injury
  • Laser treatments to cut down scar tissue formation.

Initial treatment will start with injections and pressure padding and if these are ineffective then invasive procedures like radiation or laser treatments may be used to shrink the keloids; however, it is seen with time the keloids themselves tend to shrink and become flat with time and in such cases there is no treatment required for Keloid Disorder.

Surgery may be required for removal of extremely large keloids but with surgery there comes a high recurrence rate of the keloids and hence the physician will recommend treatment with steroid injections after surgery to cut down the risk of the keloid recurring even after surgery for Keloid Disorder.

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Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:March 7, 2018

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