Understanding Keloid Scar Removal

You cannot go through life without bumps and bruises on your person. Everyone gets a scar sometime or other on all parts of their body: face, torso, and limbs. What is really disturbing is when the scar appears where people can see them. Some people heal very nicely and the scar blends in with their skin tone. However some people are unfortunate to have scars which are overgrown. This happens during the healing process when the cells get overactive. Such a scar is known as a keloid scar. To find a treatment for keloid scar removal, you must first understand what it is.

Not everyone would fall victim to a keloid scar. Whether you will get one or not depends largely on the kind of skin you are born with. It's like a person wishing to acquire a suntan. Some people just get burnt while others are more tolerant of the harmful sun’s rays. Just because you want one does not mean you would have one simply by exposing yourself continuously to the sun. Your skin has a lot to do with it. It must have the right pigmentations for it to tan; otherwise it would only be sun-burnt even with the application of a heavy layer of sun-screen lotion, not to mention the possibility of getting skin cancer. In any case, if you happen to be one of those people who are unfortunate enough to possess the type of skin texture that encourages the development of keloid scars, it only takes the slightest irritation of the cells to start the process.

A keloid is formed inside scar tissues. It is a type of hypertrophic scar which results in an overgrowth of tissues at the site of a healed skin injury. In texture, a keloid scar has the feel of a firm, rubbery lesion or a shiny, fibrous nodule, and its colour can vary from pink to flesh-coloured or red to dark brown. Collagen, used in wound repair, has a tendency to overmultiply in the healing area, expanding in a claw-like growth over normal skin – beyond the boundaries of the original wound, sometimes even producing a lump many times the size of the original scar. Biologically, a keloid is a fibrotic tumour characterized by a collection of atypical fibroblasts with an excessive deposition of extracellular matrix components, especially collagen, fibronectin, elastin and proteoglycans. In general, keloids contain relatively acellular centers and thick, abundant collagen bundles that form nodules in the deep dermal portion of the lesion. After all that is said and done, a keloid scar is benign, non-cancerous, and usually accompanied by severe itchiness, sharp pains and changes in texture. Patients suffering from keloid scars have reported to being hurt with a needle-like pain or to itch without warning, although the degree of sensation varies from one to another.