Keloid scars: a case series study

Keloids scars are a pathological way of wound healing of the human skin. They are responsible for an unsightly and functional discomfort, and recurrence is common after surgery. There are specific treatments in order to lower this risk. They can be hard to distinguish from an hypertrophic scar on clinical and histological examination. Moreover, mixed forms exist, combining keloid and hypertrophic features. We retrospectively reviewed 52 patients who underwent surgery for keloid scars. On 54 scars, histological examination found 38 keloids, 8 hypertrophic, 7 mixed scars and 2 neither keloid nor hypertrophic. Mean age was 30 years. Sex ratio was 1.2 women per 1 man. Most frequent locations were ear (44.4%), thorax (33.3%), and shoulder (7.4%). In all cases, disease duration exceeded one year. Histology help to make the definitive diagnosis of keloid, hypertrophic and mixed scar, confirmed by trichrome or orcein staining and alpha smooth muscle actin immunostaining.