Losing hope

During my last treatment, my doctor told me that she thought it was best that we take a break from treatments. My scar didn't seem to be improving, and she didn't know what else we could do.

She suggested that I seek radiation therapy as my next approach but because I'm still 25 (and want kids in my future), radiation isn't for me. It weighed on me heavily on what I should do. Radiation therapy might not work, and I'd be risking a whole lot...

Since my last doctor's visit, my scar had seemed to improve tremendously. Even the edges are starting to flatten. I really want to continue cortison injections, but my doctor wants me to take a 3 month break. I am a little worried because now that I am seeing improvements, I don't want to give up. I don't feel very supported by my doctor but I don't have very many options because I can't afford to see anyone else. I'm sad because she's been there since my surgery, and I feel as if she's losing hope for my scar. 

Trying to stay positive when I have negative energy around me. I need to believe that my scar will heal. 

For now, cortison tape and silicon sheets 24 hours.

Current treatment:

Steroid injections bi monthly

Followed by constant tapes and sheeting on scars

12 hours with cortison tape

12 hours with silicon sheets

Switch every twelve hours

I sleep in my silicon sheet and go to work with my cortison tape.

This is me getting ready for bed (silicon sheets pictured below)

sinking in the middle of the larger keloid.

Injections (with lidocaine/prilocaine cream) & medical tape

The back and forth struggle is real. I've been seeing a plastic surgeon consistently for 6 months. Every 6 weeks, I've been getting steroid injections. It's a slow and painful process, but I'm seeing and feeling the difference it's making. My keloids aren't as itchy. They've become softer as well.

My doctor puts a topical anesthetic cream on scar before she injects it with triamcinolone acetonide (steroid). It burns like hell, but the cream helps a little bit. Before, we would inject the anesthetic into my keloids at the same time as the steroid, and although that was less painful the scar was getting less medicine. If you have keloids, you know how hard and robust keloids are. It's very difficult to penetrate  even with a needle so there's little room for the steroid to squeeze it's way in. By using the topical anesthetic cream, we're leaving more room for the steroid to make it's way in the keloid (because that's the good stuff---the more the merrier especially with a difficult scare like mine).

Here's a picture of what the cream:

LIDOCAINE and PRILOCAINE Cream (it's the same stuff dentists use)

I had to wait 10 minutes for the numbing to take effect.

40 mg! That's the strong stuff. 

My doctor also prescribed a medical tape to put over my scars. I change them twice a day. Once in the morning, and then again before I go to sleep. It's annoying but I'm willing to try anything...

I'm back...

Hello.

It's been about a year since my surgery, and my scar is back :(

Super itchy. Super shiny. Super painful and annoying as ever.

When I graduated from college, I lost my health insurance and could no longer pay for my doctor visits.
Because I could not afford it, I stopped my scar treatments and follow-up appointments.

I came back to blogger, and was very inspired by my commenters.
There is so little research and information about keloids out there, but this also means that there are A LOT of people out there who want to know more about keloids! Because of the responses that I've gotten from sharing my story...I am inspired to keep sharing. We deserve it.

If there is a treatment that works, I want to share it. If there is a treatment that hasn't worked, I want to share it.

Thank you for sharing your story and for reading mine.

Healing Well

Morning Before Surgery:

One Week After Surgery:

Today:

Hey guys!
So, as you can tell from the picture, I am healing very well!
Because my skin is so acne prone, my doctor prescribed me clindamycin phosphate topical lotion so that I won't develop any black heads in my surgery scar. On my last visit, I had all my stitches removed and the doctor noticed that I had developed a black head in my scar. She was able to removed it, but she wanted me to apply the clindamycin lotion on my scar 2 times a day so that the healing process would be 100%. In my opinion, it looks great!

I am also starting to use Scarguard MD which is supposed to diminish the appearance of scars. You can learn about them here: http://www.scarguard.com/
They are not paying me to put their name out there or anything, and to be honest, I don't even know if it works. But I'll keep you updated, and if it works for me, then I'll definitely let you know.

One stitch removed