Review of Keloid Patients with Clinical Experience

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Keloid management can be difficult and frustrating, and the mechanisms underlying keloid formation are only partially understood. Despite many studies of the pathogenesis and cause, little is known of the predisposing factors or the diathesis. Therefore, we evaluated patients with keloid for 13 years clinical experience, with the goal of considering the causative factors and physical disposition of keloid. METHODS: We evaluated 107 patients (38 males, 69 females; median age 22.31 years, range 7-58 years) who visited the department of plastic and reconstructive surgery from March 1998 to December 2010. The patients' chart and clinical photo were reviewed for the study. RESULTS: Etiologies were an intended wound like piercing or surgical wound (n=39), avulsion flap injury (n=30), laceration (n=29) and burn (n=9). The location were the head and neck (n=38), trunk (n=23), upper extremity (n=21), lower extremity (n=16) and face (n=9). Patients with more than overweight (>23 kg/m2, Body mass index) were 84 in 107 patients (78.5%) with keloids. CONCLUSIONS: In the care of the keloids, patient information, particularly sex, age and body mass index, it may be useful indicators for expecting prognosis of the patients and treating with proper management. Particularly, large-scale accurate follow-up observations on obese patients will be critical.