unsightly kheloid scarring from breast reduction

irelandese

Hi Ladies
as a young girl i was always very fast to develop, so it was no surprise that i came to be a very top heavy lady to the point were the backaches were hindering me from some physical activities that involved running. so at the age of 20 i went ahead and had a breast reduction done here in ireland . I am of oriental descent , so my skin is different from other races , i was told that asian skin and african skin are prone to dark pimented rasied thick scars after traumatic surgery ,whilst caucasion scars are pink and eventually fade with time. i am now 26 years old and the key hole surgery that was performed is still very visible . where the surgeon performed the incisions, the healing grew dark, thick , raised ,lumpy and extremely itchy at times, my life has been so much better since the surgery , i find that i am more active and my back pains have subsided , but in terms of intimacy or wearing a bikini , i find that i hit a wall and am very conscious of the scars . im just wondering if any of ye ladies have the same problems i have ? , is there any other methods / cheap alternatives of reducing these kheloid scars apart from getting injections to smoothen it out , i have heard of scar revisions , which might leave me with a 50% chance of fixing the problem, but i heard there is a possibity of developing another kheloid after that revision surgery . ive tried the gel sheets , ive tried gel creams and i have tried bio oil , non of which have worked for me , the only thing i have not tried is tanning , which i have been told can reduce the hyperpigmentaion i have by my female friends , but since i am asian skin toned does it work for me or will it darkin it even more ?any suggestions , or experiences or good websites for information will be much appreciated thank you !

micar

Before I start, I'm a guy but I have a keloid scar on my arm near the elbow. Got it from a fall from my bike and didn't really look after the wound which was quite deep.

It's about the size of a €2 coin, raised and red. In the cold, it's turns to very deep red and more noticeable. In skin around it is whiter than the rest of my arm.
Like you I've tried a few things to reduce it including bio oil. At times it does get itchy. Bio oil might have worked if I had used it fairly soon after it had healed.

I did get in contact with a plastic surgeon who advised that they would not be able to remove it. It looks like I'm stuck with it.

I'm very conscience of it in the summer and make sure there's plenty of suncream on it.

LegacyUser

Hi irelandese
As there does not seem to be much uptake on your post (due most likely to the issue not affecting white people as much as people with darker skin) I thought I could provide some advice.

First off I am a guy but I suppose skin is skin, the fact that your keloid is due to a predominately female operation is not really relevant.

You seem to already know a fair bit about keloid scarring so I won't repeat all of that but will share my experience with you.

I got my first keloid about the age of 20, in fact 2 appeared at once without any wound or skin break that I recalled. I ignored them for a long time as they did not really bother me.

Around 5 years later another appeared. This one was larger than the previous ones and was right on top of my sternum which caused more discomfort than the previous two (which are on my right chest).
I decided to see a doctor about it who prescribed a creams but the keloids continued to grow and were ultimately joined by 5 more spreading from nipple to nipple and upto my collar bone (in fact my chest looks like a world map).
Over the years I have tried dermatologists here in Ireland who for the most part did not seem to be overly competent to deal with the keloids (back to the issue of it generally not being a white issue) but also the complete lack of follow up support, tracking of growth, etc etc.
In Ireland I got the steroid injections into the scarring, which is the most painful thing I have ever endured. This needed to be done at 6 week intervals (@€;130 per visit) for a period of time.
These did not work so I was prescribed roaccutain which is an acne drug as the scarring turned out to be due to small pimples that didn't heal properly and just kept producing scar tissue. After this made no difference he wanted to start the steroid shots again but I gave up on him at this stage.
Subsequently I was in Asia for a period and saw a dermatologist there who provided infinitely better treatment, doing the steroid shots again and following up with lasek treatment and gel packs. 
Ultimately though nothing worked and they continue to grow and grow. I have given up trying to treat them and just hope that someday they will stop. In the last year or so the bigger scars have begun joining together.

As they spread the scar tissue flows over the living hair follicles and stretches and distorts the surrounding skin. This causes unbearable itching. Scratching them makes them grow but not scratching them is not an option as you have already realised.

So I guess my advice to you is to seek medical advice from someone you know to have knowledge in this area and then carefully consider whether you want to proceed with the procedures or not. There is no cure. It is possible that scarring can be reduced but not eliminated. The treatments are painful and unpleasant with no guarantee of success. If it does get smaller there is no guarantee that it will not grow again in the future and there is also no guarantee that the treatments will not make the keloid grow larger.

irelandese

Thanks Sooo much for ur feed back it has been very helpful, I think I will keep searching all the best with ur scars, I'll let u know if I stumble upon some miraculous cream lol!

5car5 wrote: »

Hi irelandese
As there does not seem to be much uptake on your post (due most likely to the issue not affecting white people as much as people with darker skin) I thought I could provide some advice.

First off I am a guy but I suppose skin is skin, the fact that your keloid is due to a predominately female operation is not really relevant.

You seem to already know a fair bit about keloid scarring so I won't repeat all of that but will share my experience with you.

I got my first keloid about the age of 20, in fact 2 appeared at once without any wound or skin break that I recalled. I ignored them for a long time as they did not really bother me.

Around 5 years later another appeared. This one was larger than the previous ones and was right on top of my sternum which caused more discomfort than the previous two (which are on my right chest).
I decided to see a doctor about it who prescribed a creams but the keloids continued to grow and were ultimately joined by 5 more spreading from nipple to nipple and upto my collar bone (in fact my chest looks like a world map).
Over the years I have tried dermatologists here in Ireland who for the most part did not seem to be overly competent to deal with the keloids (back to the issue of it generally not being a white issue) but also the complete lack of follow up support, tracking of growth, etc etc.
In Ireland I got the steroid injections into the scarring, which is the most painful thing I have ever endured. This needed to be done at 6 week intervals (@€;130 per visit) for a period of time.
These did not work so I was prescribed roaccutain which is an acne drug as the scarring turned out to be due to small pimples that didn't heal properly and just kept producing scar tissue. After this made no difference he wanted to start the steroid shots again but I gave up on him at this stage.
Subsequently I was in Asia for a period and saw a dermatologist there who provided infinitely better treatment, doing the steroid shots again and following up with lasek treatment and gel packs. 
Ultimately though nothing worked and they continue to grow and grow. I have given up trying to treat them and just hope that someday they will stop. In the last year or so the bigger scars have begun joining together.

As they spread the scar tissue flows over the living hair follicles and stretches and distorts the surrounding skin. This causes unbearable itching. Scratching them makes them grow but not scratching them is not an option as you have already realised.

So I guess my advice to you is to seek medical advice from someone you know to have knowledge in this area and then carefully consider whether you want to proceed with the procedures or not. There is no cure. It is possible that scarring can be reduced but not eliminated. The treatments are painful and unpleasant with no guarantee of success. If it does get smaller there is no guarantee that it will not grow again in the future and there is also no guarantee that the treatments will not make the keloid grow larger.