Taking a break from injection | how I use silicone sheet

I been taking a break for awhile because I don't see any immedient spread on my keloid. In the mean time, I still keep the silicone sheet on my keloid otherwise it would spread like crazy and itch like crazy. I thought I should share step by step of how I apply Cica-care on my keloid. I would be uploading a better photo on my Keloid Timeline later. These taken on my camera phone. I apologize for poor quality.

 

You can see it is summer and I have tan line around the keloid. I been avoiding sun exposure. And been using Cica-Care religiously. It's better not getting keloid tanned. Not only it would tan darker than your skin, but also it's really hard to undo the tanned. You would have to wait years or use laser to lighten the color.

Here is the silicone sheet I bought awhile ago. When you buy this, it comes in a big sheet. It runs about $50 a sheet. You can get this easily on Amazon. The price isn't really that bad. One sheet can last me for a year. I prefer Cica-Care brand because it's thicker and more effective than other pharmacy brands. It has a nice thickness to it which can hold up the skin around the scar really well. And once you tape it up it gives some pressure on the scar. You don't wanna use the ones that are too thin and stretchy.

You can cut this up to size. I cut this up with clean scissors. You wanna make sure that it's bigger than your keloid and it covers the skin around it. It's better that you go generous on this than to be too small. My problem area is mostly on top, so I just make sure I have some extra coverage on that area. You want it to be like a second skin. This would not work on a keloid that are too raised.  

Then you wanna press it down starting from one side. Make sure there's no air bubbles between the skin and the silicone sheet. 

I tape this up with waterproof bandages I bought from CVS. The reason why I use these because they are the thinnest out of all the bandages. And they sticks to my skin really well. I have tried medical tapes, they are not very sticky enough for me. The tape tend to come off when I move my shoulder. They also gives me rash. You have to find different things and see what works best for you.   

I make sure that the bandages cover the edges of the silicon. This is imporatant for 2 reasons. 

1) This way you can get a good pressure from all sides. 2) Is to protect the silicone from getting dirty. When it has dust or lint from clothing on, it loses the ability to stick. You can re use this silicone for a month if you take care of it well.

Then I added 2 more on top and the bottom. 

And it's done! 

To clean it up

I peel it off when I take a shower and soak it in alcohol. Rub the sticky sides against each other so dust and dirt comes off. Try not to use hand because oil from our hands can make it lose stickiness. Wait until it completely dry (dry your skin as well.) If it's not dry it would not stick. Don't put any lotion or cream on the keloid when you use silicone sheet. You will need to stock up a lot of alcohol since you will be washing it daily or even twice a day. You wanna keep it clean to prevent and rash.

How long until you see the result?

I can only say from my experience. The itch stops almost imediently. It's like when your keloid really itch, you press your warm palm on it and it gives you that comfort. That how it feels. There's really no magic when it comes to keloid. Don't expect to see your keloid flatten over night. Gives it at least 5 months. You will start to see the color changes. It would be less red, less inflamed.

Keloid timeline

Let recap again from the first time I started to document my treatments. What does this tells me? My keloid started to grow out of the frame. It's time to make a new timeline!

click on the photo to see full size image

Keloid still spreading, what's else is new?

This's how my keloid looks today. I notice a new development on top right corner. This is so frustrating!! You can see it better on the bottom photos. My doctor have recently told me to use new cream called Bio Croneum. And stopped using Cica-Care, because it's not FDA arpoved in United State. I gave it a chance and tried using it for about 4 months now. I have to say, not only it doesn't work, it f***ed up my keloid. Let me explain why. 

1. Bio Croneum might work well on newer scar or to prevent scar tissue to form. Bio Croneum works by forming a thin silicon layer to protect the skin to lower the chance of scar tissue to form. But it doesn't work on older scars or keloids. Because the scar is already there. 

2. That thin layer of silicon does absolutely nothing to protect my keloid from rubbing against my shirt and that causing the keloid to continue growing. 

3. In my case, the shoulder is an area where there's high stretching and contracting activity. The keloid tend to spread because of the skin moments around it. 

4. I still think Cica-Care is the best solution in term of protecting my scar from rubbing against my clothes and minimizing skin moment around the keloid. 

With all that being said. That's not the end. I'm still fighting!

The Keloid and my shoulder.

I just wanna show you my keloid relative to my arm. The most uncomfortable part is the top area. Where it's still growing toward the shoulder. It's painful and itchy especially when the seam of  the shirt is rubbing against it.

Latest on my keloid. The color is looking really great!

This is how my keloid look from the most recent photo I took right before I went to see my doctor. It seems that the middle part looks a lot nicer than before. The color looks almost like normal skin. Before the color gets to this point, my skin has been cracking and peeling out. I guess that's the part of the process.

On the other hand, the top part of the keloid where it's close to my shoulder is still not improving much. Lets see what the doctor is going to see this time. It's been a really long process, but I'm still hopeful. I hope that one day I can get the whole thing flatten down.

My keloid today

After a recent steroid injection I had on Jan 20th. I have a photo update from Jan 27th for you to see.

 (click on the photo to see it fullsize)

This photo was taken a week after the injection. I did 2 ultrasounds so far. One right after the injection and another one a week after. I showed the doctor the photos of the past treatments. He agreed that we should do the ultrasound right away instead of waiting 2 weeks. Which I think it's working! I can feel that my scar is much softer. The color looks much better than before. 

Although It still swell a little, I can see that the top right started to improve a bit. The keloid is thinning which is a great deal for me. Especially the top of my shoulder is constantly moving and the keloid tend to grow really fast in that area. On the other hand, the top left is still a problem to me. As you can see that it's still thick. And that weird white tissue started to form. I'm not sure what that is. That happened to me before in the past. It usually dry out and fall off. creating a hole on the surface of the keloid.(if you go back and look at older photos of my keloid..you see something like that on the bottom part of the keloid) I don't think it's a good thing because it will form more keloid over the "hole" area.

My keloid update | 1 steroid injection, 4 ultrasounds

It has been almost 6 weeks after my last steroid injection with a new doctor in Pasadena. He mixed the steroid with anesthetic to ease out the pain. But honestly I have been getting steroid injections without any anesthetic, and I'm totally ok with it. The pain isn't that bad. In the past, my doctor in Thailand has told me that anesthetic would counter the effect of steroid and it wouldn't work. I believe that is true, because I don't see much result this time. From my experience the amount of injection has to be generous enough that it would flatten the keloid and also prevent it from growing back. Because remember any trauma to the area would cause more keloid to grow and even a small needle incision is also a trauma.

After that shot in December, I had to wait 2 weeks before I can get ultrasound treatment done, which was done every week (it has been 4 treatments since). The doctor said it would help soften the keloid and also makes the steroid work faster. I'm not sure if this is working. Right after every treatment the skin around the keloid would start to itch really bad. Right now my keloid seems to be more red than before. And the area on top is starting to grow thicker. This starts to worry me. I have another appointment again this Friday. I will have to show these photos to the doctor. I'll let you know how it goes.

(click to see full size image)

timeline of my keloid

Keloid, It's growing!

After I told my husband that my scar is growing. He did not believe me so I have to do something to prove this. You can see from the photos that my scar is growing vertically. Part of it because of steroid injection I got. If the injection is too close to the border of the keloid, it would make the keloid spread. Usually inexperienced doctors often make this mistake and won't admit it. My mom has taken me to plastic surgeon since I was 10. I have had several injections from many doctors. Many of them caused the keloid to spread. I can already tell from the first injection if the doctor really knows what's he or she doing.

{click on the photo to see it large!}

Aug 22-Sep 10 - after a couple injections and lasers I got in Santa Monica. Did not work well with this doctor. His injection caused the keloid to spread. I decided to stop the treatment with him. 

Oct 22 - after a couple steroid injections I got in Thailand during my vacation. Really good doctor! Amazing result!! The bottom and middle areas are completely flat. Too bad I can't go back there every month. 

Dec 10 - The doctor in Thailand refers me to this new doctor I'm seeing in Pasadena. So I'm going to see how this works. This photo has taken after one steroid injection and couple more ultrasounds. The top part is still spreading. I need to show this photos to the doctor. 

First Post

Dear friends

I'm Miss Keloid. My keloid defines me as a person. It been a life long scar of mine. It never been a moment that I feel completely free of my scar. I always feels it. It's right there on my shoulder. It's itchy. It's painful. It's growing everyday. It's a big secret of my life. I rarely tell people about my keloid, because a few people I have told in the past think I have cancer (how ignorant). It's really hard for normal people to understand what keloid is, especially when it's growing. People raise eye browns and think I'm crazy to not try to fix this. But they don't know that there is no cure for keloid.

It been so long...since last time I ever worn a sleeveless, enjoyed going to a swimming pool,  and got a good night sleep on the left side. Growing up experience has been painful. I used to get hit on the shoulder all the time because other kids think I pretend to cry. Part of this makes it hard for me to trust people. I'm pretty sure some of you who have keloid like me do share the same feeling...

my scar right before a first steroid shot in 5 years