What are hypertrophic scars or keloids?
In the normal repair process of injury to the dermis, elevated levels of collagen are delivered to the wound site to heal the injury. After this process, collagen is continuously deposited while older collagen is continuously broken down by the body, resulting in a normal scar response. In hypertrophic scars, the body continues to deliver collagen, which is deposited in a disorderly fashion, while the normal process of collagen lysis, or breakdown, is suspended or impaired. Hypertrophic scars are typically raised, erythematous (red, pink, or purple) and stiffer than the surrounding skin. Over time most hypertrophic scars mature resulting in a scar remnant that appears like that of a normal scar except it is typically wider than if the scar had not become hypertrophic. Note that when an incisional wound heals normally, the resulting scar remnant may be as fine as a simple pencil line across the skin, while the matured hypertrophic scar may appear wider, like that left by a pencil eraser
