Keloid scars form to protect injured skin, such as burns or acne scars. They may flatten over time, but some people may prefer to have them surgically removed.
When skin is injured, fibrous tissue called scar tissue forms over the wound to repair and protect the injury. In some cases, extra scar tissue grows, forming smooth, hard growths called keloids. Sometimes, a cancer spot can resemble a scar.
Keloids can be much larger than the original wound. They’re most commonly found on the chest, shoulders, earlobes, and cheeks. However, keloids can affect any part of our body. Although keloids are not harmful to our health, they may create cosmetic concerns.
Keloid symptoms
Keloids come from the overgrowth of scar tissue. Keloid scars tend to be larger than the original wound that’s why they may take weeks or months to fully develop.
The symptoms of a keloid can include:
- a localized area that is flesh-colored, pink, or red,
- a lumpy or ridged area of skin that’s usually raised,
- an area that continues to grow larger with scar tissue over time,
- an itchy patch of skin.
While keloid scars may be itchy, they’re usually not harmful to our health. One may experience discomfort, tenderness, or irritation from clothing or other forms of friction.
Keloid scarring can form on large areas of our body, but this is generally rare. When it happens, the hardened, tight scar tissue may restrict person’s movement.
Keloids are often more of a cosmetic concern than a health concern. You may feel self-conscious if a keloid is very large or in a highly visible location, such as on earlobe or on face.
Keloid causes
Most types of skin injury can contribute to keloid scarring, for example:
- acne scars,
- burns,
- chickenpox scars,
- ear piercing,
- scratches,
- surgical incision sites,
- vaccination sites etc.
An estimated 10% of people experience keloid scarring. Men and women are equally likely to have keloid scars. People with darker skin tones are more prone to keloids.
Keloids are more common in the following populations:
- people of Asian descent,
- people of Latin descent,
- pregnant people,
- people younger than age 30.
Keloids tend to have a genetic component, which means you’re more likely to have keloids if one or both of your parents have them.
A 2015 study found that the gene AHNAK may play a role in determining who develops keloids and who doesn’t. The researchers found that people who have the AHNAK gene may be more likely to develop keloid scars than those who don’t have it.
If you have known risk factors for developing keloids, you may want to avoid getting body piercings, unnecessary surgeries, and tattoos.
Keloids vs. hypertrophic scars
Keloids are sometimes confused with another more common type of scar called hypertrophic scars. These are flat scars that can range in color from pink to brown. Hypertrophic scars are smaller than keloids. And, unlike keloids, they can go away on their own over time.
Hypertrophic scars occur at similar rates among men and women and affect people of all racial groups. They’re commonly caused by various forms of physical or chemical injuries, such as piercings or exposure to harsh fragrances or chemicals. At first, hypertrophic scars can be itchy and painful, but the symptoms subside as the skin heals.
Home treatment for keloids
The decision to treat a keloid can be a tricky one. Keloid scarring is the result of your body’s attempt to repair itself. After the keloid is removed (surgically), the scar tissue may grow back, sometimes larger than before.
Before pursuing any medical procedures, you can consider at-home treatments. Moisturizing oils can help keep the tissue soft. These might help reduce the size of the scar without making it worse.
These treatments require frequent and careful application to be effective and take at least 3 months to work.
Allopathic treatment for keloids
Initially, your doctor will probably recommend less-invasive treatments, such as silicone pads, pressure dressings, or injections, especially if the keloid scar is fairly new.
Corticosteroids combined with botulinum toxin type A injections into the keloid tissue have been found to be effective in shrinking keloids.
Combining this treatment with injectable chemotherapy agents, particularly a combination of the steroid triamcinolone and the chemo drug 5-fluorouracil, has been shown to be even more effective than treatment with a corticosteroid alone.
Keloids surgery
In the case of very large keloids or an older keloid scar, surgical removal may be recommended by allopathic doctors but remember that the rate of return for keloid scarring after surgery can be high. However, the benefits of removing a large keloid may outweigh the risk of post-surgery scarring.
Cryosurgery also called cryotherapy, is perhaps the most effective type of surgery for keloids, the process works by essentially freezing away the keloid with liquid nitrogen, although carbon dioxide and argon may also be used.
When liquid nitrogen has a temperature between -346 and -320°F, it instantly freezes nearly anything that’s in contact with it. In the case of human tissue, it can kill and destroy cells upon contact. This is important when the cells you want to kill are cancerous.
Cryosurgery is typically used for tumors or precancerous lesions found on your skin. However, some tumors inside the body can be treated this way as well.
Cryosurgery, is similar to the technique used when doctors freeze off warts using liquid nitrogen spray.
Your doctor may also recommend corticosteroid injections after surgery to reduce inflammation and lower the risk of the keloid returning.
Laser treatment for keloids
For certain types of scars (including some keloids), a doctor may recommend laser treatment. This treatment resurfaces the keloid and surrounding skin with high beams of light in an effort to create a smoother, more toned appearance.
However, there’s a risk that laser treatment can make your keloids worse by causing increased scarring and redness.
Preventing keloids
Allopathic treatments for keloid scarring are very difficult and are not always effective. For this reason, it’s important to try to prevent skin injuries that could lead to keloid scarring and try treat them with Homeopathic medication which are very effective to treat/remove scars and keloids.
Sun exposure or tanning may discolor the scar tissue, making it slightly darker than your surrounding skin. This can make the keloid stand out more. If possible, keep the scar covered when you’re in the sun to prevent discoloration.
Homeopathic Treatment for Keloid
Keloids Homeopathic treatment. Avoids Surgical Intervention: Homeopathy offers a natural alternative to surgery for keloid treatment. Unlike surgical removal, which has a high risk of recurrence, homeopathic remedies aim to reduce keloid size and prevent new ones from forming without the need for invasive procedures and steroids/corticosteroids.
Prevents Recurrence: Even after surgical removal, keloids have a significant chance of returning. Homeopathy addresses the root causes of keloid formation, reducing the likelihood of recurrence and promoting long-term skin health.
Reduces Discomfort: Homeopathic treatment can alleviate the itching, pain, and discomfort associated with keloids, improving the patient’s quality of life.
Enhances Cosmetic Appearance: Consistent use of Homeopathic remedies can soften and flatten keloids, leading to a more aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Extremities: Ganglia or encysted tumors at the back of the wrist. Gouty enlargements of the joints of the fingers. Exostoses on fingers. Chronic synovitis of knee joint.
Here are few Homeopathic medicines for keloids and scars:
Graphite
Thick, hard keloids that may be itchy and sensitive to touch. Tendency to develop the skin phase of internal disorders. Tendency to erysipelas. Anemia with redness of face. Aids absorption of cicatricial tissue. Induration of tissue. Cancer of pylorus. Duodenal ulcer. Eczema. Itching pimples. Moist eczema. Erysipelas, burning and stinging. Rough, hard, persistent dryness of portions of skin unaffected by eczema.
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Early stage of keloid, scars and fibroma. Pimples and acne. Eruptions, oozing out a sticky exudation. Rawness in bends of limbs, groins, neck, behind ears. Unhealthy skin; every little injury suppurates. Swelling and induration of glands. Gouty nodosities. Cracks in nipples, mouth, between toes, anus. Phlegmonous erysipelas of face; burning and stinging pain. Swelling of feet. Wens (Pilar cyst or sebaceous cyst—a benign, slow-growing skin cyst often found on the scalp).
Lycopodium Clavatum
Skin ulcers. Abscesses beneath skin. Hives. Violent itching; fissured eruptions. Acne. Chronic eczema associated with urinary, gastric and hepatic disorders; bleeds easily. Skin becomes thick and indurated. Varicose veins, naevi, erectile tumors. Brown spots, freckles worse on left side of face and nose. Dry, shrunken, especially palms; hair becomes prematurely gray. Dropsies. Offensive secretions; viscid and offensive perspiration, especially of feet and axilla. Psoriasis.
Silicea Tera
Hard and nodular keloids, often associated with suppuration. Felons, abscesses, boils, old fistulous ulcers. Delicate, pale, waxy. Cracks at end of fingers. Painless swelling of glands. Rose-colored blotches. Scars suddenly become painful. Pus offensive. Promotes expulsion of foreign bodies from tissues. Every little injury suppurates. Long lasting suppuration and fistulous tracts. Dry fingertips. Eruptions itch only in daytime and evening. Crippled nails. Indurated tumors. Abscesses of joints. After impure vaccination. Bursa. Lepra, nodes, and coppery spots. Keloid growths.
Arsenicum Album
Itching, burning, swellings; edema, eruption, papular, dry, rough, scaly; worse cold and scratching. Malignant pustules. Ulcers with offensive discharge. Anthrax. Poisoned wounds. Urticaria, with burning and restlessness. Psoriasis. Scirrhous. Icy coldness of body. Epithelioma of the skin. Gangrenous inflammations.
Arsenicum Bromatum
Herpetic eruptions, syphilitic excrescences, glandular tumors and indurations, carcinoma, locomotor ataxia, and obstinate intermittent, and diabetes are all greatly influenced by this preparation. Acne rosacea, with violet papules on nose; worse in the spring. Acne in young people.
Arsenicum Iodatum
Dry, scaly, itching. Marked exfoliation of skin in large scales, leaving a raw exuding surface beneath. Ichthyosis. Enlarged scrofulous glands. Venereal bubo. Debilitating night-sweats. Eczema of the beard; watery, oozing, itching; worse, washing. Emaciation. Psoriasis. Acne hard, shotty, indurated base with pustule at apex.
Argentum Nitricum
Skin brown, tense, and hard. Drawing in skin, as from a spider-web, or dried albuminous substance, withered and dried up. Irregular blotches.
Thuja Occidentalis
Thuja Occidentalis is used for keloids that are large, soft, and fleshy. Polyps, tubercles, warts epithelioma, naevi, carbuncles; ulcers, especially in ano-genital region. Freckles and blotches. Perspiration sweetish, and strong. Dry skin, with brown spots. Zona; herpetic eruptions. Tearing pains in glands. Glandular enlargement. Nails crippled; brittle and soft. Eruptions only on covered parts; worse after scratching. Very sensitive to touch. Coldness of one side. Sarcoma; polyps. Brown spots on hands and arms.
Thiosinaminum
One of the most effective keloid symptoms and homeopathy treatment, medicines to treat keloid is Thiosinaminum. It can be prescribed to various patients irrespective of the kind and cause. Thiosinaminum is a powerful and strong remedy that holds the potential to dissolve scar tissue. It is derived from the oil of mustard seeds and is often given to reduce the size and itching associated with the keloid. It may be prescribed to you by a professional after analyzing the symptoms and extent of your scar. Moreover, the use of Thiosinaminum in Homeopathic medicine is totally free from side effects.
Calendula
Whenever we talk of the top homeopathic medicines for treating skin injury cases, Calendula is always considered the best solution. It can treat all the conditions of keloids. Either you got it from a skin injury or due to accidental trauma or cuts from surgical operations. Moreover, it can also act as a preventive remedy against keloid formation. For instance, if you develop a serious injury, apply Calendula tincture over the affected traumatic side as soon as possible. This will make sure that the wound is healed quickly with minimal scar tissue formation. And that too in a safe and natural way. During your homeopathy treatment, Calendula will assist in disappearing the scar on its own with zero chance of its overgrowth.
Calcarea Fluorica
For keloids, it helps to soothe the itch or rash but also shrinks the keloid to a nearly invisible form. Hard, stony, raised keloids with, thick, fibrous and tendency to itch. Marked whiteness of skin. Scar tissue; adhesions after operations. Chaps and cracks. Fissures or cracks in the palms of the hands, or hard skin. Fissure of the anus. Suppurations with callous, hard edges. Whitlow. Indolent, fistulous ulcers, secreting thick, yellow pus. Hard, elevated edges of ulcer, surrounding skin purple and swollen. Knots, kernels, hardened glands in the female breast. Swellings or indurated enlargements having their seat in the fasciae and capsular ligaments of joints, or in the tendons. Indurations of stony hardness.
Calcarea Carbonicum
Flaccidity of the skin. Visible quivering of the skin from head to foot, followed by giddiness. Burning, smarting, itching. Ephelis. Nettle rash, mostly disappearing in the fresh air. Eruption of lenticular red and raised spots, with great heat, much thirst, and want of appetite. Skin hot and dry, rough and as if covered with a kind of miliary eruption. Furfuraceous coating of the skin; burning; chapped. Humid, scabby eruptions and tetters, or in form of clusters, with burning pains. Itching pemphigus. Skin excoriated in several places. Skin unhealthy; every injury tends to ulceration; even small wounds suppurate and do not heal.
Ulcers deep; fistulous; carious. Ulcers with too little pus. Erysipelatous inflammations. Furunculi. Warts. Corns, with pain as of excoriation, and burning. Polypus (nose, ear, uterus). Encysted tumors, which are renewed and suppurate every month. Belatedness. Swelling and induration of the glands, with or without pain. Varices. Arthritic nodosities. Swelling; softening; curvature of; stinging in; caries and distortion of the bones. Ulceration of the bones. Panaris. Flaws in the fingers.
Calcarea Sulphurica
Cuts, wounds, bruises, etc, unhealthy, burns and scalds, discharging pus; they do not heal readily. Yellow, purulent crusts or discharge. Purulent exudations in or upon the skin. Skin affections with yellowish scabs. Many little matterless pimples under the hair, bleeding when scratched. Dry eczema in children.
Acid Flouricum
Old cicatrices become red around the edges, covered or surrounded by itching vesicles, or they itch violently. Burning pains on small spots of the skin. Itching of the skin (in the month of March). Elevated red blotches. Red, round, elevated blood vesicles, resembling little flesh-warts. Varicose veins on the leg. Caries and necrosis. Ulcerations.
Petroleum
Itching at night. Chilblains, moist, itch and burn. Bedsores. Skin dry, constricted, very sensitive, rough and cracked, leathery (anything with the tough, resilient, and pliable texture or appearance of leather). Herpes. Slightest scratch makes skin suppurate (Hepar). Intertrigo; psoriasis of hands. Thick, greenish crusts, burning and itching; redness, raw; cracks bleed easily. Eczema. Rhagades worse in winter.
Sepia Officianalis
Herpes circinatus in isolated spots. Itching; not relieved by scratching; worse in bends of elbows and knees. Chloasma (hyperpigmentation – patches of dark discolored skin or pigmented spot on the skin caused by a localized increase in melanin and melanocytes); herpetic eruption. Ringworm (every season). Urticaria on going in open air; better in warm room. Hyperhidrosis and bromhidrosis (bad body smell). Lentigo in young women. Ichthyosis with offensive odor of skin.
Sulphur
Skin dry, scaly, unhealthy; every little injury suppurates. Freckles. Itching, burning; worse scratching and washing. Pimply eruption, pustules, rhagades, hangnails. Excoriation (the act of scraping or wearing away the skin) especially in folds. Feeling of a band around bones. Skin affections after local/on skin allopathic medication. Pruritus, especially from warmth, is evening, often recurs in springtime, in damp weather.
Lycopodium Clavatum
Skin ulcerates. Abscesses beneath skin; worse warm applications. Hives; worse, warmth. Violent itching; fissured eruptions. Acne. Chronic eczema associated with urinary, gastric and hepatic disorders; bleeds easily. Skin becomes thick and indurated. Varicose veins, naevi, erectile tumors. Brown spots, freckles worse on left side of face and nose. Dry, shrunken, especially palms; hair becomes prematurely gray. Dropsies. Offensive secretions; viscid and offensive perspiration, especially of feet and axilla. Psoriasis.
Mercurius Solublilis
Almost constantly moist. Persistent dryness of the skin contra indicates mercurius. Excessive odorous viscid perspiration; worse, night. General tendency to free perspiration, but patient is not relieved thereby. Vesicular and pustular eruptions. Ulcers, irregular in shape, edges undefined. Pimples around the main eruption. Itching, worse from warmth of bed. Crusta lactea; yellowish-brown crusts, considerable suppuration. Glands swell every time patient takes cold. Buboes. Orchitis.
Staphysagria
Eczema of head, ears, face, and body; thick scabs, dry, and itch violently; scratching changes location of itching. Fig-warts pedunculated. Arthritic nodes. Inflammation of phalanges. Night-sweats.
Myristica Sebifera
A remedy of great antiseptic powers. Inflammation of skin, cellular tissue and periosteum. Traumatic infections. Parotitis. Fistulas. Carbuncles. Specific action in panaritium. Pain in the finger nails with swelling of the phalanges. Hands are stiff, as if from squeezing something a long time. Coppery taste and burning in throat. Tongue white and cracked. Phlegmonous inflammations. Hastens suppuration and shortens its duration. Often does away with use of the knife. Inflammation of middle ear, suppurative stage. Fistula in ano. Acts more powerfully often than Heper or Silica.
Conium Maculatum
Skin.-Shootings, and pricking itching in the skin.-Swelling of the glands, with tingling and stitches after contusions and bruises.-Bluish colour of the skin over the whole body.-Painful inflammation of the skin.-Nettle-rash in consequence of violent bodily exercise.-Pimples, like those in scabies, which become scurfy.-Brownish, or red and itching spots, over the whole body, which disappear and return.-Humid, or scabby and burning tetters.-Blackish ulcers, with sanious, sanguineous, and fetid discharge, and tingling tension.-Gangrenous ulcers.-Ulceration of the bones.-Panaris.-Petechiae.-Reddish and greenish spots, as from ecchymosis.
Lapis Albus
Scrofulous abscesses and sores. Enlargement and induration of glands, especially cervical. Lipoma, sarcoma, carcinoma. Pruritus.
Kalium Iodatum
Skin: Purple spots; worse on legs. Acne, hydroa. Small boils. Glands enlarged, indurated. Hives. Rough nodules all over, worse any covering; heat of body intense. Fissured anus of infants. Tendency to edematous swellings, eyelids, mouth, uvula, etc. Acne rosacea.
Rhus Toxicodendron
Skin: Red, swollen; itching intense. Vesicles, herpes; urticaria; pemphigus; erysipelas; vesicular suppurative forms. Glands swollen. Cellulitis. Burning eczematous eruptions with tendency to scale formation.
Clemat Erecta
Skin: Red, burning, vesicular, scaly, scabby. Itches terribly; worse, washing in cold water; worse face and hands and scalp around occiput. Glands hot, painful, swollen; worse inguinal glands. Glandular indurations and tumors of breast. Varicose ulcers.
Berberus Vulgaris
Flat warts. Itching, burning and smarting; worse, scratching; better, cold applications. Small pustules over whole body. Eczema of anus and hands. Circumscribed pigmentation following eczematous inflammation.
Acid Nitricum
Warts, large jagged; bleed on washing. Ulcers bleed easily, sensitive; splinter-like pains; zigzag, irregular edges; base looks like raw flesh. Exuberant granulations. Black pores on face, papules worse on forehead.
Radium Bromatum
Small pimples. Erythema and dermatitis, with itching, burning, swelling and redness. Necrosis and ulceration. Itching all over body, burning of skin, as if afire. Epithelioma.
X-Ray
Dry, itching eczema. Erythema around roots of nails. Skin dry, wrinkled. Painful cracks. Warty growths. Nails thicken. Psoriasis.
Sabadila
Skin: Dry, like parchment. Horny, deformed, thickened nails. Hot, burning, creeping, crawling sensation. Itching in anus.
P. S: This article is only for doctors and students having good knowledge about Homeopathy and allopathy.
For proper consultation and treatment, please visit our clinic.
Dr. Sayyad Qaisar Ahmed (MD {Ukraine}, DHMS), Abdominal Surgeries, Oncological surgeries, Gastroenterologist, Specialist Homeopathic Medicines.
Senior research officer at Dnepropetrovsk state medical academy Ukraine.
Location: Al-Haytham clinic, Umer Farooq Chowk Risalpur Sadder (0923631023, 03119884588), K.P.K, Pakistan.
Find more about Dr Sayed Qaisar Ahmed at:
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