What Causes Keloids and Hypertrophic Scars?
• The actual cause is not known although much work is being done on wound healing and the role of cytokines in control of collagen formation. This type of research might provide clues to the cause and treatment in the next few years. • Cells: There are two types of white blood cells or inflammatory cells – nmast cells and eosinophils – both of which have been implicated in keloids or excessive collagen production. Their actual role is not known. • Cytokines: Cytokines are proteins much like the hormone insulin. They can affect the cell that makes them (an autocrine effect); adjacent cells (paracine effect); or distal cells (endocrine effect). Cytokines are known to control many cellular functions. During wound healing, many different cytokines are released, some early in the healing process (first few days); other late (first few weeks); and some are detectable only late in the healing process (a month or later). No one cytokine is found at any given time but a group. Healing with cyto
