Before and after keloid excision and reconstruction in a 47 year old man. He had genetic predisposition to keloid formation and had failed past steroid injection of this keloid. It had continued to grow over the last few years to its current size, with ongoing symptoms of pain and itching.
A true keloid is a form of benign scar tumor where it continues to grow outside the original boundaries of the wound and becomes much larger than the incision. In this case, the original wound was an earlobe piercing.
Cases like this gentleman’s keloid are best treated by a combination of surgery and radiation, which is coordinated by our office. Surgical excision was performed in the operating room as a short outpatient procedure. Three 5-minute radiation treatments followed, with the first treatment occurring within 24 hours of surgery and the next treatments on postoperative day two and three.
Combination surgery and radiation is the treatment of choice for difficult refractory keloids like in this case that have failed conservative treatment (scar therapy and steroid injections).
Follow up images are shown at 2 months after surgery. He has regained a normal appearance to his earlobe and is now able to go out in public without getting second glances by passers-by.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
