Nose Keloid
What Is A Nose Keloid?
A nose keloid is a specific type of fibrous scar tissue that is most often associated with nose piercings. It is from granulation tissue overgrowth that occurs at the location of a skin injury that has healed and become replaced slowly by excessive amounts of collagen.
To look at a nose keloid it can be characterized as being a rubbery, firm lesion or a type of shiny, fibrous nodule. They can be pink, flush-colored, red or sometimes dark brown in color. Although it may appear to be quite disturbing, a nose keloid is non-contagious, benign but it is often accompanied by a bit of pain and itchiness and it can change in texture. If the case is severe, it can even affect the movement of your skin.
A keloid can expand into a claw-like growth that forms over your normal skin scar. They are often described as hurting with a pin-like type of pain or to just start itching severely without warning however, the degree of sensation, pain and itchiness varies from person to person.
If your nose keloid becomes infected there is a good chance that it can ulcerate and then the only treatment option is to completely remove the scar. The downfall of the surgery is that over 50 percent of the time, the resulting surgical scar will then also become a nose keloid.
Causes
Scar tissue is what forms a nose keloid. A type of collagen that is used to repair wounds, overgrows in the injured area and often will produce a lump that is considerably larger than the size of the original scar. Traditionally, a keloid will form at the site of an injury but they are also known to arise spontaneously in random places.
The most popular cause of a nose keloid is from a nose piercing but they can also be caused from things even as small as a scratch or a pimple. There are even occurrences resulting from chickenpox or severe acne scarring, an infected wound, repeated trauma to a specific area or excessive skin tension from a wound closing. Keloids can even be a result of the individual having a sensitivity to chlorine. If they appear while the individual is young, they will often grow while the person is still growing. They will generally not improve at all in appearance and they can even cause immobility if they are growing over a joint somewhere on your body.
A nose keloid can affect both males and females equally although statistically there seems to be a higher percentage in females. Additionally, there is approximately a 15 times higher occurrence in individuals with high pigmentation so a person that is African descent has an increased risk.
Treatment
There is not a 100 percent effective treatment for a nose keloid. All surgical methods carry a high risk of it returning and growing larger.
- Dressings – Wound coverings that are moistened and made from silastic or silicone gel has been reported to reduce a nose keloid over time. This a painless and safe treatment and it even helps with the itching.
- Creams And Gels – There are many scar reduction creams available that offer symptomatic relief but treatment requires quite a bit of persistence.
- Grapefruit Seed – With excessive use, grapefruit seed extract can reduce the size of the keloid and if it is small to start it may take it away completely but not necessarily permanently, it may come back after treatment has discontinued.
- Surgery – There is a 50 percent chance of the keloid returning after surgery but they are far less likely to return if the surgery is combined with other treatments such as dressings, laser surgery and steroids.