Cutaneous Scarring

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. Notably, superficial injuries that do not reach the reticular dermis never cause keloid and hypertrophic scarring. This suggests that these pathologic scars are due to injury to this skin layer and the subsequent aberrant wound healing therein. Various external and internal postwounding stimuli may promote reticular inflammation. Specifically, it is likely that the intensity, frequency, and duration of these stimuli determine how quickly the scars appear, the direction and speed of growth, and the intensity of symptoms. These proinflammatory stimuli include a variety of local, systemic, and genetic factors. At present, physicians cannot (or at least find it very difficult to) control systemic and genetic risk factors of keloids and hypertrophic scars. However, they can use a number of treatment modalities that all, interestingly, act by reducing inflammation. These include corticosteroid injection or tape or ointment, radiotherapy, compression therapy, stabilization therapy, and surgical methods that reduce skin tension. This review contains 11 figures and 41 references. Key Words: atrophic scar, hypertrophic scar, keloid, mature scar, pathologic scar, wound healing