Contributor: Gordon K. Klintworth
A keloid is a common non-neoplastic tumor composed of an accumulation of fibrocollagenous tissue following wound healing. This exaggerated scar varies in size and sometimes has a diameter of several centimeters. It may follow minor trauma, surgical wounds, burns and conditions that provoke chronic inflammation. Africans and African-Americans are more prone to keloids than caucasians. The lesion is characterized microscopically by thick bundles of collagen in a slightly myxoid stroma containing a paucity of fibroblasts. A keloid should be distinguished from a hypertrophic scar (they remain confined to the borders of the initial wound).