A new article published in Cureus stated that there existmultiple risk factors for keloids and hypertrophic scars (HTS) that include – ethnicity, family history and history of previous keloids or HTS. In addition, an associationlies between pregnancy and growth and worsening of keloid and HTS. However, this inter-relation is less widely known amongst physicians and less documented in the literature.

The authors reported that worsening of keloid scars have been noted during pregnancy. Furthermore, the transformation of a pre-existing scar into a keloid scar has also been observed during puberty.

These are attributed to hormonal effects of pregnancy and puberty hormones which could potentially trigger the growth of pre-existing keloids and HTS. It was further stated that such transformations may have an impact on many patients and hence, women and girls who have keloid and hypertrophic scarring should be made aware of this potential effect.

Source: Cureus. 2020 Dec 18;12(12):e12154. doi: 10.7759/cureus.12154.