Scars are classed as hypertrophic or keloid. Keloid scars occur when the wound hasn't healed in the normal way. Such scars appear raised, lumpy, hard, red, rope-like and itchy. They tend to be larger than the original area of injury.
A keloid scar is a thick raised scar. It can occur wherever you have a skin injury but usually forms on earlobes, shoulders, cheeks or the chest. If you're prone to developing keloids, you might get them in more than one place.
Normal fine-line scars
A minor wound like a cut will usually heal to leave a red, raised line. It will gradually get paler and flatter over time. This process can take up to two years. The scar won't disappear completely and you'll be left with a visible mark or line.
The most common type of scar is a linear scar, which appears as a thin line that follows the path of the incision made during surgery. Mohs surgery scars on the face may appear more prominent due to their location.
A hypertrophic scar is a thick raised scar that's an abnormal response to wound healing. They more commonly occur in taut skin areas following skin trauma, burns or surgical incisions.
When a keloid first appears, it's often red, pink, or slightly darker than your natural skin tone. As it grows, it may darken. Some become lighter in the center and darker at the edges.
He explains that “a scar is actually a bunch of unorganized collagen in the dermal layer of the skin.” Over time, the tissue will try to reorganize, and the scar may appear to soften, but the skin may never completely return to its original state — particularly if the cut extends beyond the epidermis, the skin's outer ...
What Is Abnormal Scarring? When skin is cut or injured, the body heals itself by forming scar tissue. If the body makes too much scar tissue, abnormal scarring results. “Hypertrophic scars” are usually raised, red fibrous lesions, and keloid scars extend beyond the edges of the original cut or wound.
There are three distinct, sequential phases of repair leading to the formation of a fibrotic scar: (1) inflammation, (2) new tissue formation, and (3) remodeling. Inflammation occurs immediately after tissue injury.
Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease characterized by noncaseating granuloma development. Scar sarcoidosis is a rare cutaneous form of sarcoidosis developing on previous cutaneous scar areas.
Hypertrophic scars are contained within the site of injury and may regress over time, while keloids spread beyond the borders of the initial injury and do not regress. On histological examination, hypertrophic scars tend to have collagen in a wavy, regular pattern, whereas keloids have no distinct pattern of collagen.
Keloids and hypertrophic scars are caused by cutaneous injury and irritation, including trauma, insect bite, burn, surgery, vaccination, skin piercing, acne, folliculitis, chicken pox, and herpes zoster infection.
Hypertrophic scars are benign and not harmful to a person's general health. They do not develop into skin cancer.
Hypertrophic scarring represents an undesirable variant in the wound healing process. In hypertrophic scars, excess connective tissue is deposited in the area of the original tissue wound.
Trapdoor deformity, a phenomenon of outward bulge of tissue centrally due to concentric retraction of a curved scar peripherally, may occur after surgery and present a therapeutic challenge.
Atrophic Scars
They are depressed, sunken and often have a pitted appearance. Atrophic scars happen when the body does not make enough collagen while healing, which causes the loss of tissue. Acne, chickenpox or injuries involving loss of skin tissue are the usual causes of these scars.
When do scars look their worst? For the first couple of weeks after surgery, a scar can appear red, angry and lumpy. Between approximately four and eight weeks, it can look wider and redder and, at times, worse than it looked initially.