Keloid Scar

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Katarina Mbeki

Columnist · Editorial staff

Katarina Mbeki

Reports on safety, side effects, and informed consent in keloid scar treatment.

10 stories by Katarina Mbeki

Close up of a person measuring a raised scar on their upper arm with a small plastic ruler in bright bathroom light, phone resting nearby.Field Notes

Measuring your keloid between injections: a home tracking protocol

Steroid injection series are usually judged by whether the scar looks better, which is the least reliable measurement available. Three numbers and a repeatable photograph, taken the same way each month, tell you whether the series is working long before the eye can.

· 8 min · Katarina Mbeki

A pregnant woman seated in a bright clinic room in conversation with a dermatologist who is examining a raised scar on her upper chestField Notes

Keloids and pregnancy: why they grow, when they settle, and what has to wait

Existing keloids commonly enlarge during pregnancy and often quiet down afterward. The clinical problem is that most of the standard treatments are exactly the ones nobody wants to give a pregnant patient.

· 8 min · Katarina Mbeki

A pediatric dermatologist gently examining a small raised scar on a young child's earlobe in a bright, friendly clinic room in warm daylightField Notes

Keloids in children: what parents should know about treating them early

Children form keloids too, and the calmest, gentlest options are usually the right first move.

· 7 min · Katarina Mbeki

A dermatologist gently examining the jawline of a young adult patient with deeper skin tone in a bright clinic roomField Notes

Keloids from acne: when a breakout leaves a raised scar

Acne is one of the most common keloid triggers, and controlling the breakout is scar prevention.

· 6 min · Katarina Mbeki

Close-up of a tattoo artist's gloved hands and machine working near a client's shoulder in a clean modern studioField Notes

Tattoos and piercings when you are keloid-prone: making the risk decision

Any break in the skin can trigger a keloid, so cosmetic procedures are a real decision, not a given.

· 6 min · Katarina Mbeki

A gowned surgical team in an operating room carefully closing an incision under bright operating lightsField Notes

Preventing keloids before planned surgery

If you keloid and need surgery, prevention starts before the first incision, not after.

· 5 min · Katarina Mbeki

A calm portrait of a person at home in morning light with a faint flattened collarbone scarField Notes

Living with keloids: setting realistic expectations

Control, not erasure, is the honest goal, and it is achievable.

· 5 min · Katarina Mbeki

A person with deeper skin tone resting a hand on their shoulder scar in soft daylightField Notes

Who gets keloids, and why

Genetics, skin tone, and wound location all stack the odds.

· 5 min · Katarina Mbeki

Close-up of a person's earlobe showing a small firm keloid near an old piercing siteField Notes

Ear keloids after piercing: a common and treatable problem

Why earlobes keloid so often, and how they are managed.

· 5 min · Katarina Mbeki

Macro close-up of a smooth raised keloid scar on a person's shoulder in soft daylightField Notes

What is a keloid, and how is it different from a scar?

Keloids grow beyond the original wound, and that one fact changes treatment.

· 6 min · Katarina Mbeki

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