Keloids and skin of color: tailored, careful treatment

Because keloids disproportionately affect people with deeper skin tones, effective keloid care is inseparable from experience treating skin of color, and that experience changes outcomes.

The stakes are higher in two directions. Keloids form more readily, and several treatments carry a greater risk of side effects in darker skin: steroid injections can cause lightening of the surrounding skin, and aggressive laser or cryotherapy can leave pigment changes that are themselves disfiguring. A clinician who routinely treats deeper skin tones knows how to dose conservatively, choose appropriate lasers, and sequence treatments to control the keloid without trading it for a pigment problem.

The practical advice for patients with skin of color is to seek out a dermatologist with a clear track record in keloids and in their skin type specifically, and to ask directly how they manage the pigment risks. Tailored, cautious treatment from experienced hands is what separates a good keloid result from a new set of problems.

Related reading: Laser treatment for keloids: what it can and cannot do.