Keloids are a type of scar. These scars can arise after surgery or any form of skin injury and they are overgrowths of collagen. Keloids can have a lot of symptoms, but it’s important to stay focused and keep a positive attitude when dealing with them, as this side-effect is not dangerous. People who have experienced body harm will be dealing with this problem, but they could also get these scars because they have an excessive amount of collagen in their bodies, which is not normal. These scars can grow up to 2 inches in size, resembling a lumpy red lump that’s hard to the touch and unsightly.
What are the Common Symptoms of Keloids?
Keloids often cause a lot of discomforts and can result in emotional distress to the patients. The symptoms of keloids are as follows:
1. Red or purple lumps that grow on the area where you’ve been injured or surgery was performed. It does not hurt, but it is uncomfortable when touched. The injury may have been a broken bone fracture, but it may also develop after scarring from surgery.
2. The scar will be hard to touch, but it’s not painful: it will be hard and bumpy. Sometimes, it will feel like a firm lump under the skin.
3. The scar may itch, or you may get an open sore where the scar is located. You may also experience pain in your joints when you move them, especially when you’re moving your arm over the area where the scar is located on your body.
4. Keloids can cause discoloration of your skin in dark areas of your body and sometimes even dark spots on your face, too. This is because your skin has a different type of tissue that doesn’t develop until you are in your teens or twenties.
5. Sometimes, you will notice your hair and eyebrows falling out, or they may start to thin out.
6. You will also see a lot of skin damage on the affected area where the flare-up has happened in the first place.
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What Are the Causes of Keloids?
The causes of keloids are:
1. A rapid healing process after an injury has occurred on your body; this is known as an inflammatory response. This response feeds the scarring process and makes it worse. The production of collagen is increased, and the excess collagen feeds itself with the inflammatory response.
2. The area where the keloid is located may have an increased amount of collagen. This makes it a good place to get a scar because of the blood supply present in that area.
3. The inflammation process can be linked with sunlight as well, as this contributes to the flare-up in the affected area where your keloid is located.
4. Genetics could be the cause of your scar; if someone in your family has keloids, you are more likely to have them yourself.
5. If you are a man, the older you get, the harder and faster your testosterone levels will change. This will increase the inflammatory response in your skin and make it more prone to keloid flare-ups.
6. Women who take birth control pills will also run into problems with keloids because of their excessive estrogen levels.
You will also notice a change in the color of your skin, which may turn red, white, or even dark brown.
Who Can Get Keloids?
Keloids can appear on any part of your body. It’s more likely to take place in people who are African-American or Asian-American, as well as Native Americans, Hispanics, and Latinos. If you have light skin and have never had keloids before, you may develop them if you have an immune system that is sensitive to collagen. As you have light skin, you are more likely to get keloids even if they have never affected your skin before.
You will also notice a flare-up when you are pregnant as your body produces a lot of collagen during pregnancy. This means that you are more likely to end up with keloids if you get pregnant for the first time during October and November.
What Are the Treatments for Keloids?
There is no single treatment that will resolve a keloid; however, it can be treated. The treatments will vary depending on the type of keloids you get, how it affects you, and how serious it is. Your doctor may recommend different treatment methods to prevent further flare-ups. The treatments below are the most common and they will be able to help you:
1. Surgery. If keloids are very large and overgrowth, your doctor may recommend surgery. This is used to cut the overgrowth and remove it. When your doctor performs this procedure, he may use a laser as well. Laser therapy may be recommended to reduce the size of the keloid.
2. Corticosteroid injections can also be used to make your scar smaller and shrink it quicker than in other cases where corticosteroids will not be recommended because they may cause a side-effect such as swelling that may make the treatment for keloids ineffective.
3. Cryotherapy is also another form of treatment that may be used to ‘freeze’ the keloid and prevent it from growing, causing blood vessels to burst. When you use this treatment, the keloid will not be present on your skin anymore because it will have been frozen off.
4. Laser resurfacing may also be used on your skin if you have developed a keloid on your chest area or back, and it would be unsuitable for surgery. This is done by using a laser to penetrate the scar and destroy it.
5. Chemical peels are also an effective way of treating keloids to reduce growth and make your skin look healthier. The chemicals used will stimulate collagen production in your skin, making it more resistant to the inflammatory reaction that causes keloids to grow in the first place.
Conclusion
Keloids are a serious form of scarring that may cause you to lose hair and even damage your skin. Your doctor will recommend different methods of treatment depending on the type of keloids you get, as well as the severity. Laser therapy is a very effective way to treat keloids, but surgery may be required in extreme cases. Corticosteroid injections may also be used to reduce swelling and make you feel better.
