Me and my keloids

Hi There,

fellow sufferer here. I'm sorry you are experiencing this and I don't have much to offer other than understanding. I have found that the pain correlates with growth and once keloids have become more mature and skin coloured they stop growing. 

I had surgical treatment once for a ear lobe keloid and I enjoyed 2-3 years of keloid free life before it returned and was back to the same size by year 5 or 6. That said it hasn't got bigger in the several years since. hurts and bleeds less hardly at all actually. I would say it's no worse maybe a bit better and I gave it a go if i didn't i would always wonder. If it gets much bigger or bothers me again I would try surgery again.

Obviously your experience will be different but thought i'd share. people hear you

Hi there,

I know the feeling. I too, had an ever growing keloid on my chest. I know the pain and itching and the self consciousness all too well. I tried almost everything under the sun. Black paste, apple cider vinegar, tea tree oil, bio oil, , silicone sheets, steroid injections. Nothing really worked.

I continued to research new treatments. Long story short, I know of 2 that work well. I posted about my experience in one of the threads here about chest keloids. Anyhoo, one of the treatments is Cryoshape. They actually stick a probe through the scar and freeze it from the inside out. It's the procedure I chose to do.

Part of the reason other treatments don't work is because the collagen cells continue to produce. Normally when a wound is healed your body knows to stop producing collagen to that area. Keloids form because for some reason that area didn't get the memo. So the scar grows over time and becomes raised.

Cryoshape works by freezing/killing those cells. Basically starting from a clean slate. The healing process is long...like months- (I think it being on the chest made it take so long cuz your inadvertently move around that part of the body)...but not very painful. Only a 3% recurrence rate. My Dr gave me steroid injections mixed with 5-FU in the scar every 4-6wks after the Cryoshape-about a month after the procedure.

It's now been over a year since the Cryoshape and my scar is completely flat. I have brown skin and did experience some pigment loss from the Cryoshape but I simply cover it with full coverage makeup when I wear v-neck tops. I'm totally happy with my results. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

The other treatment is SRT-100. My Dr said it's actually the best treatment available for keliods BUT I still opted not to use it because it involves a strong laser and he said once the scar has been treated with a strong laser it may not respond well to other treatments if the scar doesn't take to SRT-100.

So with that I got the Cryoshape..with the idea that if it didn't work or came back (worse) I'd try SRT-100.

SRT-100 is much more expensive too. And I THINK may require more than one treatment. With SRT they surgically cut out the scar then treat it with the SRT laser a couple days later.

Talk to your dermatologist about it. Start calling around see who offers it in your area if your current Dr doesn't have it. There's a couple well known Dr who were featured on the show The Doctors that use Cryoshape and SRT-100. You should be able to find them on YouTube. The lady Dr is based out of Los Angeles...the guy is either Texas or New York.

Best of luck to you!!!

Hello, Back In 2014 I decided to remove My Keloid on my own. I got assistance from my younger brother as well. The keloid that I had was on the back of my left ear.I would say it was the size of 3-4 candy skittles rounded in a ball. At the time I was a grocery bagger at a Grocery Store Called Strack and Van Til. Many of my co-workers and customers would ask "whats that on your ear OR "how did that happen to you ear.I gotten so tired of it that I decided to take that chance to remove it on my own.(ALSO my Doctor did Confirm it was a Keloid and that if I got it removed it might come back even Larger!)I took my chances and looked online for Surgical Scissors.I found some for under $7 and ordered them.About a week later my surgical scissors came and it was time to remove my Keloid. My tools were Surgical Scissors,Ice,Gatorade bottle,Stove,SeaSalt which is found in Any Grocery Store and Regular Bandages that you would use on a Typical cut or after getting a shot from the doctor.I was Ready!! Once again My brother helped me with this.We put about 4 tablespoons of sea salt in gatorade bottle put it in microwave until it reached a temperature that I would be able to bare than shook it up. I put ice on my Ear/Keloid until it felt numb.Put the Scissors on the Stove until it turned RED HOT! YES After that my Brother Cut the Keloid off! It fell on the floor (Digusting Yellowish Thick Puss Inside) The Back of my ear did take a little burning from the Hot Scissors but nothing Major,didn't even take a pain pill after this. After The keloid was off I poured the Hot SEA SALT water on the back of my ear,Waited till it Dried (5 minutes) and put the bandage on it! I only used the sticky part of the Bandage Not the Middle pad part.Everything was fine besides me being scared as s**t that it was going to come back even Bigger! The next morning I took the the bandage off and the was a little puss and I used the Hot Water and Sea Salt and Bandage after about 5 minutes.I did that procedure for 2 weeks every morning.After the First week I would let my Ear Breathe from bandages for 30mins-1hr a day .No lump/Bump ever came.2 weeks after cutting the keloid off I stopped using the Sea Salt Water and only Changed the Bandage.I Used Bandages for about 2 more Months and after that I felt my ear no longer needed them.Today is January-31-2018 and my ear is free of Keloids.I Thank God that it never came Back. Please Share my Story with Others!

Hi, I've suffered from keloids for 10 years due to a ear pierce back when I was 17 years old and over the course of the years I had it removed through the rubberband method I did myself. PLEASE do not try the rubberband method. Although it did not get infected and had kept it clean .. it grew back..It looked good after the keloid fell off and healed but after 5 months it started grow back again. I had steroid injections before and all it did was stop the itching and the keloid did grow a bit smaller but as soon as I stopped the steroid injections it started growing back. The keloid was the size of a rollie pollie. I tried this method (Rubberband) twice and same results. REMINDER: PLEASE catch the KELOID AS EARLY AS YOU CAN!!!! Do NOT WAIT FOR IT TO GET BIG TO DO SOMETHIN ABOUT IT. For some people it was a success (rubberband method) but unfortunately all of our bodies are different and I suggest not to do this! Seek Professional help!!! My keloid has grown over the course of 3 years to the size of a jelly bean. It is now December 2018 and I have recently just removed my keloid through a dermatologist in the Bay Area in California. He first gave me three options on treating keloid scars which was surgery followed by steroid injections which the surgery was ranging around 700 to 1000$ followed with steroid injections. Steroid injection sessions costed 250$ per session and this first option had a re-occurrence rate of 50% chance of it not coming back or go with Cryoshape followed by steroid injections in which that costed around 1100$ to 1500$ depending the on the size of keloid which had a re-occurrence rate of 30% chance/70% success rate. Lastly, the most expensive option was the to do a biopsy followed by three SRT-100 treatment which is a superficial radiation therapy that you will go right after the biopsy followed by 2 more sessions back to back. My dermatologist recommended this method as one of the highest success rate of keloids not coming back...over 90% Success Rate in some cases... he said he wants to say its 95% because of the great results he's had with his patients. This procedure alone costed $2000 total plus a few extra $$ for the antibodies and topical ointments to treat the skin from the radiation and another ointment to treat it from infection. I am currently still recovering from the surgery but it looks great and is starting to scab up. My doctor said I will feel itching after the surgery as it is a good sign of new skin is forming. The SRT-100 will target the upper layers of the skin and kill off the cells that forms keloids and that procedure took only about 90seconds to 2minutes. My whole procedure was completely painless except when they stick the needle to numb you.. (stings a bit for about a minute but after everythings just goes numb and you don't feel a thing).. although there was stinging and throbbing sensations after the numbness went away, but what do you expect from a piece of meat getting cut off? I hope my keloid doesn't come back as it has always been a huge cosmetic insecurity of mines. I would recommend the SRT-100 procedure if you are facing this keloid war like I have. Please if you notice a small keloid on your ear and its become a decent size bump.. take care of it as soon as possible! You will regret it if it grows to a unbelievable size. I was tired of always having to explain what a keloid scar was and tired of people looking at me funny like I'm some monster or got some sort of crazy infected looking cyst. It definitely feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but I hope my post can help other people out to feel much more confident in seeking professional help. Please get yourself educated about this and do not do what I did. Also, I didn't want to go with the first 2 options presented to me because I really hated the keloid so bad I was willing to do anything to get rid of it. I hope this helps other people and know that you are not alone! I will give a follow up on how everything is healing.