Chest Keloids – General Information:
Involvement of chest is by far the most common site for keloid development. The diverse and variable presentation of keloids on of chest wall, much like all other keloids, is most likely due to a very complex and highly variable genotype of the underlying keloid disorder. On one end of the spectrum, there are patients, white or black - Asian, Caucasian, or Hispanic - who present with only one or very few small keloid lesions on their chest. On the other end of the spectrum, there are patients who suffer from a very severe form of the disorder, those with numerous and very large skin lesions that are scattered throughout their chest, and often elsewhere on their skin.
The most severe form of keloid disorder is strikingly race specific and seen almost exclusively in Africans/African Americans The very most severe forms of chest keloids are not only race specific, but also gender specific and predominantly seen among Africans/African American females.
In their early stages, chest keloids in all races present with three distinct patterns:
- Linear
- Papular
- Mixed Linear/Papular
As time passes, keloid lesions grow in size and number. In the great majority of patients, the existing small papules grow horizontally to form linear lesions which over time can become larger and merge to form larger keloids. This growth pattern over time can lead to the formation of unique skin lesions, whereby some patients develop very peculiar forms of keloids.
Patients with a mild form of the illness often present with one or few small papular or linear lesions and over time their skin involvement will remain limited to one or only a few spots. The more severe form of the disorder leads to the formation of large and often bulky keloidal lesions that cover a large portion of skin and grow and spread with a rapid pace to form large tumors or wide keloid patches.
Images below depict various clinical presentations of chest keloids.
Hyper-inflammatory, extremely painful chest wall keloid in a young Hispanic male. These large anterior chest wall keloid developed shortly after repeated surgeries to remove three smaller chest keloids. in addition to the disturbing appearance, all these keloid lesions were very painful to a point that wearing seat-belt while driving became impossible. The only method to control pain in such cases is by repeated intra-lesional chemotherapy injections. This patient achieved great pain control and flattening of his keloids with this treatment.
Hyper-inflammatory, extremely painful chest wall keloid in a young Caucasian female. This large anterior chest wall keloid developed shortly after surgery for a prior smaller chest keloid at the same locations. Very soon after surgery, the wound transformed into a keloid, in addition to its disturbing appearance, caused very severe pain, to a point that this patient seriously considered suicide as a way to end her pain. Treating such a keloid poses significant challenges. Best treatment results for this type of painful keloids is achieved by using chemotherapy injections inside the keloid tissue. This patient achieved tremendous pain control after one round of chemotherapy injections