What Causes Keloids, and What Can I Do about Them?

Sometimes when our skin is cut or injured, we can develop keloids, or excessive growths of scar tissue. Keloids are smooth, hard, and usually much larger than your original wound or cut. Although keloids are completely harmless, you may find that they pose a cosmetic concern. 

Keloids are fairly common, as they can affect 10% of the population. If you’ve found yourself with a keloid scar, then you’re not alone. You’ll also be relieved to know that they are entirely removable.

At HK Dermatology in San Juan Capistrano, California, Dr. Jeffrey Klein and his team are here to offer you a full range of dermatological and med spa services. And when it comes to removing your keloid scars, we also use the latest in scar removal technology. To make sure you’re informed, we’ve compiled this helpful guide to what causes keloids and how you can get them removed. 

What causes keloids? 

Keloids can take several weeks or months to form after your injury. Keloids are a type of benign tumor — they are not cancerous nor do they form into cancer. So, they’re completely harmless. Some of the common injuries that cause keloids include:

• Acne and chickenpox scars
• Cuts or punctures
• Burns
• Face and ear piercings
• Vaccination spots
• Surgical incisions
• Insect bites
• Tattoos

There are some other factors that also make you more susceptible to keloids. If you have a family history of keloids, you’re under 30, you’re pregnant, or your skin is dark, then you’re more likely to develop keloids. 

How we treat keloids

At our office, we only use the latest in scar removal technology — superficial radiation therapy (SRT). Superficial radiation therapy is completely painless and has about the same levels and type of radiation that you’d get with an X-ray. With SRT, the radiation is concentrated and targeted at your keloids.

We begin the process by carefully cutting your keloid just above your skin with a scalpel. We then carefully remove it from your skin. Traditional keloid treatment stops there, but that may not be effective, since a new keloid can form over the new scar, as it often does.

But, with radiation therapy, we can inhibit the scars and stop them from regrowing. This also helps your scar from the removed keloid to heal. Depending on the size of your keloid, you’ll need one to three treatments spread out over consecutive days.

SRT is completely safe, and the X-rays effectively work to seal your keloid scar without impacting any of your surrounding skin. SRT works to effectively heal your scar and keep your keloids from regrowing with a success rate of 95%. 

If you find that your keloids are making you feel self conscious or uncomfortable, then it may be time to have them removed. To learn more about removing your keloids with SRT, call HK Dermatology at 949-248-1632 or book your appointment online.