Another Keloid Encounter, Should Keloid Treatment be Considered Cosmetic?:

I am a female, Black, 63 years old. When I was about 19, I noticed a small white head bump on my chest. I busted it. I was used to "picking bumps (blackheads)" so I didn't think anything of it. However, this time it started growing. At first it was very small and then began to grow to the size of sunflower seed. My stepfather saw it and said I should go to a doctor and get it looked at. So I thought to myself it may be a good idea. I don't want to have cancer or anything. So I went to a surgeon and had it removed (I thought.)

What he showed me after the surgery looked like a small sack filled with clear fluid with tendrils on it. I was like, this looks like some sort of animal or something. Still I didn't think much about it because I was not thinking it would return. A few weeks later, my skin began to bubble up and overlap the stitches. As time went on, everything seemed to irritate it and make it itch. Then I would rub it because it was painful to scratch it. Eventually it grew or shall I say spread to the size of a 50 cent piece. But that is not the end of the story.

About 15 years ago after taking a mammogram I went into the hospital for a biopsy. The doctor went into the outer left side of my breast and the outer right side of my other breast. I told the doctor then that I was prone to keloids and they gave me some topical treatment to prevent the scarring, but it didn't work. Now I have two big rings of keloids around the outer sides of my breasts. Not only that I have about 5 or six on the top part of my back.

I no longer have a navel because of a surgery where they went in through the navel. I just have a keloid there. I used to get carbuncles (clusters of boils) there at one time, but have not been bothered by them for a few years now. But now I get pains shooting through the areas where the keloids are like on my navel and through my breast and sometimes on my chest. It's very painful. It feels like I'm being stabbed by a knife.

This has been really bothering me so I decided to do a little research and am thinking about creating a blog on this dilemma. I am so glad I found this site. There needs to be something more done about this situation. I guess people of color don't really matter to the medical world. I tried to get some other type of medical attention to remove the keloids and was told by the insurance company that the removal would be cosmetic in nature and not considered a health issue. But what about the tendrils? Are they spreading and connecting to one another and bleeding into nerves that are sensitive? You tell me.