1. Is It a Keloid or Hypertrophic Scar?
When there has been injury to the skin, either through surgery, piercing or other trauma, (such as a simple pimple or burn), the skin begins to heal itself. Normally, the scar area will be flat. Sometimes the healing tissue is thick or raised but confines itself within the perimeter of the scar. This is a hypertrophic scar. These scars usually diminish on their own within one year or so. However, if a keloid scar has developed, it will act like a growth, beginning from the healing skin area and continuing into healthy skin tissue. This fibrous growth happens when your body overproduces collagen in the healing tissue of a scar and doesn't stop production when the repair needs are met.
2. The Look and Feel
Significant signs of a keloid are that they continue to grow, have a claw or branch-like pattern and can have a range in coloring from pink to dark red or brown. They are raised, shiny, arched and solid, and they can become uncomfortably large. Although considered harmless, the scars are tender or itchy, and they're sometimes even painful when touched. The most common areas to be affected by keloids are the shoulders, back, chest and earlobes. Sometimes they will develop along the jaw line but almost never on the face.
3. Who Gets Them?
It is unclear who is most likely to develop keloids. It is possible for anyone, of any skin type, to get them. There are tendencies, however, for certain people to develop them more than others. Children and the elderly do not tend to get keloids, but people with darker skin have a higher chance of developing them. The chances of developing keloids are increased if your family has a history of them.
4. What They Are Not
A keloid is not a cancerous growth. Whether it is a keloid or a cancerous growth can be determined by having a skin biopsy. A simple visit to your doctor can determine whether you have a keloid or something else, such as a skin tag, cyst, wart, birthmark (as may be the case with an infant) or allergic reaction (such as hives).
