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Keloid growth impairing mobility

Posted by alan48 @alan48, Mar 24 7:59pm

Five years ago my wife had both knees replaced. One healed fine but the other one has formed significant scar tissue (keloid) which has significantly reduced her mobility. She can only bend the knee less than 45degrees and it is painful. We’ve been told that there is nothing that can be done except opening her back up and scraping the joint and that the keloid would most likely grow back. Has anyone experienced this problem and is anyone aware of alternative treatment that could help break down or dissolve the scar tissue?

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Zebra | @californiazebra | Mar 24 11:11pm

Hi @alan48
I’m so sorry to hear about your wife’s keloids. I have keloids but not on my knee. I got keloids from my double mastectomy. My issues besides being large, red and raised was the intense pain. For two years I had stabbing, slicing or tearing pains happen about once an hour every hour of the day. They were a 10! Awful. Then my dermatologist talked me into kenalog injections directly into the scars. They were very painful with about 15 each visit but I had 22” of scaring due to T cuts. Each time the pains would stop for 3 mo then more injections. Then we spaced them 4-6 months. I had about 120 injections over 2.5 years and finally the pain didn’t return as the scars flatted out and are light pink. Injections finished 7 years ago. The painful injections were so worth it! Be sure to find a dermatologist with experience in injecting keloids.

I’ve also heard of laser treatments but don’t know if they really work.

When I was a kid I got red raised keloids from two smallpox vaccines (not the normal dent most people got). I had plastic surgery to remove the large double keloid and it came back 5 times as large and painful. I had kenalog injections in the new scar that were worse back in 1970 and didn’t work. Maybe I didn’t have enough or wrong dose or wrong placement. That’s why I say get someone experienced.

If your wife ever needs more surgery there are taping methods of the incision with “Embrace” that is supposed to help prevent keloids. I haven’t used it so I can’t say how well it works. If you have a surgeon that tells her don’t worry you won’t get keloids even though she has a history of them then run! Find someone who is educated about keloids and cares. I hope this helps. Best of luck!

REPLY
1 reply
alan48 | @alan48 | Mar 25 7:12am
In reply to @californiazebra "Hi @alan48 I’m so sorry to hear about your wife’s keloids. I have keloids but not..." + (show)
@californiazebra

Hi @alan48
I’m so sorry to hear about your wife’s keloids. I have keloids but not on my knee. I got keloids from my double mastectomy. My issues besides being large, red and raised was the intense pain. For two years I had stabbing, slicing or tearing pains happen about once an hour every hour of the day. They were a 10! Awful. Then my dermatologist talked me into kenalog injections directly into the scars. They were very painful with about 15 each visit but I had 22” of scaring due to T cuts. Each time the pains would stop for 3 mo then more injections. Then we spaced them 4-6 months. I had about 120 injections over 2.5 years and finally the pain didn’t return as the scars flatted out and are light pink. Injections finished 7 years ago. The painful injections were so worth it! Be sure to find a dermatologist with experience in injecting keloids.

I’ve also heard of laser treatments but don’t know if they really work.

When I was a kid I got red raised keloids from two smallpox vaccines (not the normal dent most people got). I had plastic surgery to remove the large double keloid and it came back 5 times as large and painful. I had kenalog injections in the new scar that were worse back in 1970 and didn’t work. Maybe I didn’t have enough or wrong dose or wrong placement. That’s why I say get someone experienced.

If your wife ever needs more surgery there are taping methods of the incision with “Embrace” that is supposed to help prevent keloids. I haven’t used it so I can’t say how well it works. If you have a surgeon that tells her don’t worry you won’t get keloids even though she has a history of them then run! Find someone who is educated about keloids and cares. I hope this helps. Best of luck!

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Thanks for your response. I’m thankful you have found relief from your pain. My wife’s scar tissue growth is all internal. She has a normal scar on the skin of her knee. Because it is internal the doctor told her the only thing they can do is reopen her knee and scrape the tissue off.

REPLY
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