Thursday 17 November 2011

Treating Keloid Acne Scars on Dark Skin

The darker your skin, the more common keloid acne scars are, and they are difficult to treat. You probably only have two options.


An injection of steroid into the scar itself can help. It must be done by a doctor with experience of doing this, as it can cause a depressed pale scar if overdone. To try to prevent this side-effect, a series of small amounts is injected every two to three months.



The other option is to try a silicon gel sheet. The sheet, which is thin, clear and flexible, sticks over the keloid and can be worn 12–14 hours a day. It is a little unclear how it works but there is some good scientific evidence of its success.



This treatment can be prescribed by your doctor or you can buy it from your pharmacist/chemist shop. Asian or African-Caribbean skin is very difficult to treat, because it is much more reactive than white skin – causing pigment changes after inflammation or damage.

Laser treatment causes a lot of heat-related inflammation, which often results in large dark areas that you might find worse than the scars. There are some new ‘cool’ operating lasers that might be more suitable for your type of skin but we don’t have very much experience with them yet.
 

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