Massage, Essential Oils, Turpentine
★★★★★
I wish I had a before and after photo. They were SOOOO Big and painful and itched so bad. After about six months this is what I have found to work.
Massage. If I take a glass bottle and massage them for about 5 minutes they are noticably smaller. Then I take Lavender and or Frankincense essential oil and pour directly on it. I also take a body brush and brush it daily for a few weeks. They stay pretty flat. I was amazed at how well it worked after the first application. I only do it a few times a week.
I ran out of oil waiting for it in the mail and I tried turpentine instead and it stings in one area but it's flatter and smaller like a dent in it after about 2 minutes. Like it was burned away. So essential oils Lavender, Frankincense and Turpentine seem to be effective. Also a friend share that if you use lavender there is no scarring and sure enough one scabbed over and is back to normal one the scab fell off.
I would also like to mention that where I picked the scab in the first place created Keloids, where I didn't pick the scabs and let them heal or didn't let the water wash the scab away the skin looks normal. So I know now what to do! Don't pick the scab and cover with Lavender.
MSM
★★★★★
Like many reading these comments I've scoured the internet for a solution for years and years. I'm a 39 yr old male and i have 3 bad keloids since my acne-ridden teens. I've had disastrous laser and steroid injections. They can really get you down these itchy unsightly lumps.
After much trial and error I've found something that has really worked for me. It takes patience but my girlfriend is in awe of the transformation in the last 18 months I've been using this method.
The main ingredient is MSM, taken internally. This is in my opinion the miracle drug we've all been waiting for. Take 2/3000 mg a day with vitamin to aid its effectiveness. I think this alone is responsible for about 70% of the shrinkage but I mix up a home made(not inexpensive but cheaper than a lot of the scam creams out there on the internet) cream that I think makes a difference too and really helps with the itchiness.
I don't have exact measures as i apply this quite liberally to the surrounding areas too as it makes your skin feel good and helps a lot of the teeny white mini keloids I have disappear too.
It's basically one half quality aloe vera gel and one half moo goo msm cream(moo goo are an Australian company, it's widely available here in Ireland) with a few drops of tea tree, lavender and calendula oils. I don't always have all five ingredients but for some reason i feel it works better if you mix it up a bit, two weeks of tea tree, two weeks of lavender and calendula. There's no fixed method and all ingredients are good for your skin in general, especially if you're prone to acne and scarring. It is i feel good to have the aloe vera and msm to dilute the oils though and they can be a bit harsh on their own in my experience and the msm, I've read, helps the oils permeate the outer scar tissue to get to problem inside.
All this said I'm not sure exactly how much the cream really shrinks the scar. It really really eases the itching and puts the scars to the back of my mind so to me it's a very important part of my daily routine now. As much so as my morning cup of coffee(which probably doesn't help the keloids! ). You get to crave that soothing lotion and it has improved the surrounding areas no end.
The one thing I'm 100% certain shrinks keloid scars is msm taken internally. Give a few months. It's not going to happen overnight but within 3 months i think you'll notice that to touch the scars feel different and are noticeably starting to break down. It has changed my life to know that the scars are slowly improving rather than endlessly searching and going through the depression after another failed attempt at improving them. It works! And it's not crazy expensive.
Give it a go! Good luck, David
(Austria)
06/07/2016
Multiple Remedies
★★☆☆☆
I have severe keloids on my chest and right and left shoulders. I had one single keloid on my chest around 13 years back and then they have grown over time. Few of them have split, few have horizontal lines over them and they are just spreading. I have tried cortisone injections, aloe vera, baking soda and none of them have worked.
I am having keloids on my right and left shoulders and upper chest and they are slowly spreading over my back and on the upper arms. They start as acne and keep on growing. I had only one keloid on my upper chest around 13 years back and they kept spreading. Few of them have split into two and few have horizontal lines over them. I had taken few cortisone injectons, and few of them reduces, but I have got a lot of new ones and they are just spreading. I have tried aloe vera, baking soda and none of them have worked.
Kindly help me identify the cause for these spreading keloids and remedies. I keep applying crushed garlic which dries them and peels off the upper layer, but the process is very slow. Kindly help on how to prevent them from spreading and clear the existing ones.
I have read in a previous thread that it could be because of fungus and some energy path.
In reply to Mkm (India),
Please look into vitamin D as it relates to keloids. Studies are scant at best, but they do seem to suggest that vitamin D may be beneficial. Vitamin D has a very good safety profile and may have other health benefits. Most people are low on serum 25 OH d, so this would be worth discussing with your doctor. In general keloids are known to have relatively low levels of the vitamin D receptor.
Art
Multiple Remedies
★★★☆☆
BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS
Myrrh Tincture
★★★★★
Periodically, I get small, viral bumps on my neck that appear to be made worse from shaving with a razor. Some of these bumps develop into small, keloid-type growths. Over a period of years, and by trial and error, I have found tincture of myrhh to be very effective in getting rid of the bumps. Also, tea tree oil appears to be somewhat effective, but not as effective as myrhh. Note that the myrhh needs to be in tincture form. Myrhh oil does not work as well. Put the tincture directly on the bumps. They will dry up in a week or so.
(Vancouver, Bc Canada)
12/01/2009
Thank you for sharing! Can you please tell me where can I buy Myrrh Tincture? Sherry
EC: Here's a place to start: http://www.google.com/products?q=MYRRH+TINCTURE&hl=en&aq=f
(Allentown, Pa, Usa)
01/08/2010
Nivea Co Q10 Daytime Wrinkle Defense Cream
★★★★★
The formation appears to be localized microbes/parasites and the reason why the other brand you mentioned work so well appears likely to be the cosmetic preservative used in the cream and not the CoQ10. Since I have no detailed information it is hard to guess.
A wet paste made of baking soda and borax (50/50) should help. If not you may need to modify the solution to include the hydrogen peroxide 1% as the wet paste solution. It will cause drying, but not much since the locale is Hawaii, but can be quite drying in colder climates.
If the issue is a fungus then a coconut oil and some tea tree mixed applied to the keloid should help, and I am sure you can find that easily.
The other thing that I found really help in prevention of them is the need to take seriously getting the body to alkaline, taking more than the usual dose at 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda per 1/2 glass of water taken at two times per day, one in morning and one before bedtime on empty stomach.
Natural sea salt is alkaline forming, so add this 1/4 teaspoon per liter of water to the drinking water will help further alkalinize the body.
If nothing works then add 1/4 teaspoon of food grade or USP grade borax to 1 liter of drinking water but I take it often 3 days out of 7 if I do have this problem and nothing seems to work. Borax is quite strong against parasites, which currently scientist haven't really gotten around to looking at this issue.
Oily foods and sweet foods often makes keloid worse, so it is necessary to avoid oily foods, sweet foods and all bread and white flour products. Eat non white flour should help while obviously avoiding other obvious bad habits of smoking, drinking, etc. should help.
Nivea Co Q10 Daytime Wrinkle Defense Cream
★★★★★
I discovered it by accident. I was using the solution for the co q 10 cream on my face when I noticed 2 weeks later that the keloid was shrinking and less red. It took about 6 weeks total for the keloid to die totally and I have never been bothered there since. I later tried Nivea's EVENING co q 10 wrinkle creme for another kind of keloid on and below the end of my eyebrow. The EVENING creme did not work though it had similar ingredients. This keloid seemed different from the other and was caused by several accidental injuries to the same place over several months. Every time it would grow bigger after hitting it against the bone and really hurt. Now keloid is protruding so it is always getting irritated and growing. I can feel a root system under keloid or so it seems. Keloid protrudes and looks like a hard big garbanzo bean. I tried aloe, co q 10 in bee cream. rose hip oil, fried onions in bee cream, quercitin in cream thus far to no avail. I am very fair and of Icelandic / Irish / English descent and 55 years old. I wondered where these keloids came from as I usually have very good scar healing. I have many scars from a car accident and operation and none have keloided. Any suggestions as to why it is happening on my face but not my body? Are there different kind of keloids? Iwill try some of your suggestions I have just read and trust they will work.
Potash Paste
★★★★★
Potash, Honey, Palm, Aloe, Lime
★★★★☆
A mixture of grinded potash, 2 table spoon of pure honey, some palm kernel oil, Aloe vera gel and 10 lime juice extract. Press the affected area with hot water before applying the mixture in the morning and evening for one month.
(Rye, New York)
01/20/2013
Potassium Iodide (SSKI) and DMSO
http://www.tahoma-clinic.com/iodide.shtml
"Keloids" are abnormally thick scars, sometimes as much as an inch thick, that can form after injury. Although anyone can get a keloid, they're more common among blacks than other ethnic groups. Rubbing SSKI into a keloid at least twice daily will ultimately flatten them down to a "normal scar", but it can take many months to a year for particularly bad ones. The treatment goes faster if SSKI is mixed "50-50" with DMSO.
(Melbourne, Fl)
06/14/2010
★★★★★
Last summer I had surgery on a 3-4 yr. old chest keloid that was becoming extremely problematic because it was grown a significant amount. I opted for a simple removal followed up with steroid injections every 6 weeks without radiation. I read this site prior to removal, and thus prepared myself by buying several remedies mentioned on this site (a little expensive, but I was ready to invest to prevent further problems with a developing keloid).
I completely stopped eating sugars (sweets, fruits, etc.), breads, acidic foods (tomatoes, citrus, etc.), raw onions/garlic, and began drinking a whey protein shake every day. I did get a keloid on the stitch site after surgery, which was expected. However, I was extremely surprised by how quickly the wound healed! A little over 2 weeks later, my wound was completely healed, although still tender. My wounds have always taken a very long time to heal. I think the protein was largely responsible for the prompt response, as I probably am on a low protein diet as a vegetarian. My diet was extremely important for how well it healed. The moment I would eat even a little bit of onion or sugars, I had a very uncomfortable sensation in my keloid, and after months of surveillance I can say that whenever I ate these foods and had these sensations, my keloid would grow. I reincorporated breads, acidic foods, and sugars slowly back into my diet after a little over month, but still stayed away from onions/garlic. I tried eating apricot seeds and some kind of oil in pill form (can't remember which type), but I would get incredibly nauseaus everytime I ate them, so I had to stop after a few days.
Topically, I alternated every other day with DMSO and Iodine (50/50 each, 1-2x daily) and silicone sheets once the wound healed. I swear by this! It was incredibly in keeping my keloid soft! The smell was a little off-putting, but it went away once the application dried. Whenever I would take a break from using it, I could tell my keloid would start to harden. However, the applying it again would immediately help! I was pretty diligent about applying it everyday, but I stopped after about 3 weeks because I was afraid the constant aggravation would make the keloid worse. However, while I did use it, the keloid did slowly shrink and stay soft. I really do believe if I had continued using the Iodine and DMSO, my keloid would have been completely removed. It has been a year now, and I only have a small dot of a keloid left. I have been getting small doses of steroid injections every 6-8 weeks since. Although the steroid injections are extremely effective, I think it is important to use a natural remedy in conjuction to keep the steroid injections at a minimum. The injections have caused a slight skin discoloration and made the scar area a bit larger (because the raised skin has flattened out). There is also the potential for a depression to be formed in the skin if the doctor uses the injections haphazardly (which is why I opted for a plastic surgeon to watch the growth of my keloid - I am very cautious about my skin because of its tendency to form keloids). I still don't eat raw onions/garlic because I still have tingling sensations when I eat them and can tell my keloid grows.
Pressure
★★★★★
(Bangalore, India)
12/14/2011
Razor Bumps and Keloid Remedies
Sea Kelp Iodine
★★★★★
I was diagnosed by with a keloid cyst earlier this year and advised by the doctor that the only solution was surgery and/or steroid injections neither of which I was interested in. I had tried all kinds of home remedies including castor oil, hot and cold compresses, apple cider vinegar, various homeopathic creams, and many other recommendations, none of which were of any benefit in my situation. In short, I did my own research and came across Sea Kelp Iodine supplement after realizing that I (like many others) am likely iodine deficient. Within about 3 days of taking the supplement, the cyst was almost completely flat!
Fast-forward approximately two months after, and unfortunately, the bump has become inflamed again. I believe this is due to a significant increase in sugar intake which I normally do not consume which resulted in a loss of effectiveness of the iodine. I have continued to take the iodine supplement daily and am hopeful it will flatten once again.
Despite my cyst having returned, I am confident this supplement is not only great for cysts, but is also imperative for ones overall health. I hope this post helps someone else and perhaps someone can share their experience with curing a cyst such as mine that returned under similar circumstances.
(USA)
12/12/2023
Sea Salt
Sunlight
At one point though, I had about 8/9 small keloids on my chest. And through a series of events I'm still trying to figure out, all of them but one completely went away! And within just a few weeks too, I was literally watching them flatten out and fade. So what happened was I got a few Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatments, then went to Florida and accidentally got too much sun and it got much darker. They became dark brown squares from where the IPL was done. I was pretty upset. The dermatologist gave my some hydroquinone to fade the pigment and eventually it scabbed over and peeled off. The keloids were still underneath though, but more pink. Then very shortly afterwards, they started just going away on their own! So I decided to try to do the same thing with the ones on my shoulders, although I didn't expose it to sun and the treated area didn't get hyperpigmented. The keloids are sitll there. This all happened 3 or 4 years ago.
Anyway, I know it's a bit counterintuitive as it says everywhere that sunlight causes darker pigmentation. But maybe in a controlled setting, it could actually boost something within the skin cells to heal?? I mean the sun is life giving in many ways, does anyone here have any thoughts on how some heliotherapy may be beneficial for the skin? Thanks.
Some people believe that vitamin D can help alleviate keloids. Here is an article and an abstract that suggests just that:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21070203
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23867793
Exposure of your skin to uvb rays from the sun will generate vitamin d as long as your shadow is shorter than you are tall when out in the sun. Vitamin D supplementation at higher dosing may be a way to avoid the potential for hyperpigmentation with sun exposure in some individuals while still getting the potential keloid benefit if any.
It takes at least four weeks of regular supplementing before any potential benefit might likely be seen as vitamin d takes time to build up in your system.
Art
