KELOIDS

Submitted to:

Charmain C. Dacanay

Submitted by:

Kyle Christian Alia

Denmell Grace L. Ayuman

What is keloid?

Keloids are a type of raised scar. They occur where the skin has healed after an injury.
They can grow to be much larger than the original injury that caused the scar. Anything that can
cause a scar can cause a keloid. This includes being burned, cut, or having severe acne. Keloids
can also develop after you get a body piercing or a tattoo, or have surgery. Keloids sometimes
show up 3 months or more after your skin is injured. Some continue to grow for years.

Keloids can have the following characteristics: it appears and grow slowly and it begin as
a raised pink, red, or purple scar. It feels different than the surrounding skin. Some keloids feel
soft and doughy. Others are hard and rubbery. Cause pain, itching, or tenderness. When they are
growing, some keloids may be itchy, tender, or painful to the touch. These symptoms usually stop
once the keloid stops growing.

After the skin is injured, the cells try to repair it by forming a scar. In some people, the scar
tissue keeps forming long after the wound heals. This extra scar tissue causes the raised area on
your skin that is called a keloid.

What causes keloids?

Many different types of skin injuries can lead to a keloid. These include: cuts, puncture
wounds, surgical scars, severe acne, chicken pox, insect bites, injection sites, piercings and tattoos.
Some people are more likely to develop a keloid when they scar. .Keloids are more likely to
develop if younger than 30 years of age, pregnant, a teenager going through puberty, have a history
of keloids in your family and people who have darker skin are 15% to 20% more likely to develop
keloids.

How are keloids treated?

The goal of treatment is to flatten, soften, or shrink the keloid. Keloids can be hard to get rid
of. Sometimes they return after treatment. Many doctors will use a combination of treatments for
the best results. Treatments include the following:

 Corticosteroid shots. The medicine in these shots helps shrink the scar.
  Freezing the scar. Called cryotherapy, this can be used to reduce the hardness and size of
the keloid. It works best on small keloids.
 Wearing silicone sheets or gel over the scar. This can help flatten the keloid.
 Laser therapy. This can help flatten the keloid. It also can fade the color.
 Surgical removal. This involves cutting out the keloid. Most keloids will return after this
treatment.
 Pressure treatment. After keloid surgery, keeping pressure on the area reduces blood flow.
This can help keep a keloid from returning.

Conclusion:

Keloids are not harmful to our health. But having keloids can be upsetting. It may be
embarrassed about how they look so it can hurt the self-esteem. Most people who get treatment
for keloids do so because they don’t like the way they look. Luckily, the treatments that are
available can improve the way the keloids look, even if they don’t get rid of the scars completely.