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A head on collision with a drunk driver resulted in a large keloid scar under my chin
Beauty and the Beast. The story of my unfortunate keloid scars
Let me tell you my experience with keloid scars. I had previously never had a permanent scar. But it figures I would have start off with a bang. 6 years ago I was yet another unfortunate victim of a drunk driver. A head on collision was unavoidable when the driver swerved into my lane. During collision the seat belt scraped the underside of my face removing the skin and leaving an abrasion. It wasn’t a cut and quite frankly I didn’t think much of it. I just assumed the skin would grow back and all would be normal again. Not the case. What resulted was a hideous mass of scar tissue protruding from my chin. A child once remarked it looked like a worm. If you got 10 of the fattest earth worms you could find and glued them together and stuck them on my face you’d get a better description of what this keloid looked like.
While dealing with lawyer after the accident I asked "what about this thing on my face? ” I was told the insurance company wouldn’t pay for any treatment as it was considered cosmetic. I was devastated. It just so happens I saw an infomercial by a plastic surgeon stating that this type of surgery would cost about $6000. There went my hopes of ever having this removed. I never stopped looking for information on keloids, keloid removal or keloid treatments. There is so much information on the internet that it can be confusing and overwhelming. And who’s to say how much of it is even factual
Having lived with the keloid for six 6 years I realized that lawyer was wrong. A keloid is not simply cosmetic. At times my keloid was painful and extremely itchy. There would be days when I was plagued by sharp shooting pains in the keloid and surrounding area. You never knew when an attack would come on and these attacks could make for a dreadful day. Finally I was at my breaking point. I decided to stop relying on second hand information and find out for myself exactly what if anything could be done to treat my scar. I contacted my old dermatologist to see about cortisone or steroid injections. I had heard this was effective and somewhat affordable. Though I never found out for sure I read they could be about $100 per shot and you may need up 6 or more.
My dermatologist looked at my scar and said that it was far too large and pronounced for shots to be of any real value. He then referred to me a plastic surgeon. Scared to death of $6,000 price tag I’d heard on television all those years ago I decided to follow up anyway. Time to take the bull by the horns. My friends all told me "You know insurance isn’t going to cover that right?" Yeah I know. But at the very least I will know how much I need to start saving up.
Plastic Surgery for keloid removal
I scored an appointment for a consolation. The process was quick and painless and anything but informative. I was whisked in and given a proposed plan of procedure. A surgical snip to excise the keloid (I could choose to be put to sleep or remain awake during the procedure) followed by a series of radiation treatments, 3 treatments back to back to be exact, to minimize the chance of the keloid returning. This took maybe 8 minutes and I was then ushered to the front desk to begin the red tape. I was told they would contact my insurance company and let me know if they will cover the procedure.
Radiation treatment? What was that? This was something I hadn’t heard of during all of my research on keloid treatments. So naturally I went right home and did yet more research. This time my research was on the effectiveness of radiation treatment on keloids. I was relieved to find that this treatment was indeed effective and highly recommended for reducing the rate of re-occurrence after keloid removal. I was excited and nervous at the same time. So close and yet so far. What if the insurance company says no?
Almost a month went by before I heard anything back from the dr.’s office. I had begun to give up hope. Then one day the call came. The insurance company will pay and my appointment was scheduled. The actual surgical removal was done right in the dr.’s office. I opted to remain awake. I was given a local anesthesia injection I didn’t feel much except a few sharp pricks here and there. I will say though, that the sound and numb feeling of the cutting through the skin gave me the quivers. The removal took no more than 15 minutes if that.
Immediately following the surgical procedure I went to the hospital to begin my radiation treatment. I was escorted in a huge lab with a large x-ray machine which I was instructed to lie on. They then set up the machine for the best placements recorded the settings; a dr. came in to verify these settings. The next step was to fit my incision with a block that would concentrate the radiation to the scar area only. Once they took the measurements I was instructed to come back the next day but I opted to hang around until the form was done so that I could have my first treatment that day.
The actual treatment was under 3 minutes. And I couldn’t tell if the machine was even on. I repeated this procedure at the same time every day for 3 days straight. Though radiation treatment reduces the rate of re-occurrence to only 25% (this was told to me by my surgeon) there is a chance of developing cancer. Certainly not good, but I was willing to risk it.
My final course of treatment is to wear a silicone patch every day. Silicone has been known to be quite helpful in reducing the appearance of scars and returning the scarred skin to a more normal appearance. Doctors are baffled as to how why the silicone works but most agree it does work. Even my dr. told me to get silicone after my procedure. He recommended ScarFX. I had already been doing research and planned on using the silicone strips so I already had purchased Scar Away which had gotten wonderful reviews and was only $30 for a 3 month supply.
You are instructed to wear the silicone patch every day for 3 months for a minimum of 12 hours a day and optimally 24 hours a day. Though this may not be practical for everyone, I work from home and opt to wear it 23 hours a day. I remove it for one hour a day to do my daily work out routine. Even if I didn’t work from I’d still wear it all day. Explaining why I wear “bandaid” (that’s what the patch looks like) is much preferable to “what’s that thing on your face?”. And beyond what anyone thinks I will do whatever I can to help make sure this keloid doesn’t return.
Each sheet lasts one week. You are instructed to wash it your sheets once a day as well as the wound site. I wash mine before I work out and allow it that hour to dry. Once the seven days are up you are to use a new sheet.
I am wearing my silicone sheet right this very moment. Did I mention I had my scar removed less than 1 month ago? I still have 2 more months of scar therapy to go. My first follow up with the surgeon is in 16 days. I am very curious to see what he thinks of my progression. As well as press him for a more definitive answer as to how long must I wait before I know if it will return or not.
And finally I am going to end my story with what I’m sure is a very important on everyone’s mind. I know during my research it was the number question I had though I never found any solid information on the subject. HOW MUCH DOES KELOID REMOVAL COST? I’m sorry to say I still don’t know. As I said my surgeon isn’t one to divulge much information. When I asked him about the cost and insurance he told me flatly he doesn’t know about any of that stuff and to find out at the front desk. Curious indeed. Oh well perhaps my insurance company will send me some type of statement and I can follow up this article with some valuable insight on the actual cost of keloid removal.
I know this article is long but I’ve been living with this ordeal for 6 years now and I had a lot on mind! If you suffer from keloids or you know anyone who does please share your thoughts or stories in the comments section.
