Good read

I came across this inspirational story on thoughtcatalog. I do agree with Vicky, if steroid doesn't work the first time use stronger steroid!

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 wedding dresses

Yes there is such thing as keloid wedding dress! My biggest problem when I had my wedding was finding a wedding dress that would cover my keloid. I'm a petite size so I don't carry long sleeve gown that well. I would look like I'm drown in a dress that cover everything. We also had our wedding in Thailand. The weather was extremely hot at the time. People would think I'm out of my mind wearing a long sleeve. Not a lot of designers make wedding gown with short sleeves either. Temperley London is one of the only brand who makes stylish wedding gown with sleeves. Thank  you!  It's so refreshing to see something like this!!

 

 TEMPERLEY LONDON

White Bellerose Lace Dress

 

TEMPERLEY LONDON

Laelia floral-appliquéd silk crepe de chine gown

Take Keloid survey

Again if you haven't done so. Please take time to fill out some questionnaire. This would help us a better understanding about keloids in the future.

To participate in this survey, please click on the link below to go directly to the survey questions.
http://keloidsurvey.com

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!

Keloid dresses

Even though I have keloid on my shoulder, I still wanna look cute and fashionable to compensate with what I'm missing in sleeveless fashion. On day to day basis I manage to find clothes that cover both my shoulders and I even make sure that they are opaque enough so my Cica Care bandages won't show. I don't wanna have to answer anyone's question like oh what's wrong with your shoulder blah blah, you know what I mean.

I'm so thrilled with the recent trend of one shoulder dresses. A lot of designers make cute dresses and tops. This give me more options for formal wear or even cute summer dresses. Unlike back in the 90s when one shoulder tops were like un cool 70s things from the past.

Here are one shoulder dresses (preferably left shoulder) with long enough sleeves to precisely cover my BCG keloid.

Keloid dresses by keloiddiary featuring one shoulder sleeve dresses