What is scar growth, scarring and isotope dressing treatment?

  Some people, because of scarring, inadvertently have small broken skin traumas that do not attract attention at the time, but when the small wounds heal, they grow larger and larger keloids, and more unfortunately keloids cause scratching and stinging. Keloid scars are the result of excessive repair of tissue damage by the muscle and include hypertrophic scars and keloid scars. Hypertrophic scars are significantly higher than the skin surface, up to several centimeters thick, red or purple in color, itchy and painful, and tough in texture, but they do not expand peripherally, do not adhere to the underlying tissue, and can be pushed. Keloid scars are common in young people and occur in areas of high skin tension, especially in pierced earring holes where keloid scars are more likely to occur. Surgery, trauma, burns and scalds, infections and injections are predisposing factors. Skin thickening, striated and verrucous skin changes, often accompanied by itching, tingling and other discomfort, affect the patient’s quality of life. Keloid scars in joint areas can restrict limb movement and even affect work and life, and the face can be disfigured.  Scar treatment methods include physical therapy, surgery, drug therapy and X-ray therapy, but all have certain limitations and side effects, and isotope dressing therapy makes up for the shortcomings of these methods.  Radioactive drug application treatment (β radiation application treatment) is the treatment of scars by making the radioactive nuclide into a dressing device, which has the advantages of simple, non-invasive, painless, and positive therapeutic effect, etc. When using radioactive drug application treatment for skin diseases, the β-radiation generating nuclide is generally used to make the dressing device. It is relatively safe for medical personnel to operate and not easy to produce unnecessary radiation damage to the surrounding and deep tissues. At present, it mainly includes 32P dresser dressing treatment and 90Sr-90Y dresser dressing treatment. Treatment principle: scars are more sensitive to β-rays, and after the action of ionizing radiation, degenerative changes such as atrophy and occlusion of microvessels occur, and cell division slows down after small doses of irradiation, and pathogenesis becomes controlled so that the purpose of treatment can be achieved.  In scar treatment, the 32P applicator is used more often. It is made by evenly adsorbing the 32P solution emitting β-radiation onto the filter paper, and then baking and sealing it after the 32P solution has evenly wetted the filter paper. The size and shape of the filter paper is the same as the size and shape of the patient’s lesion. The dressing tablet is placed closely on the scar skin and is usually applied for about 30 hours depending on the treatment dose. Pay attention to the changes after dressing, generally the skin color starts to darken 3 to 5 days after treatment, and small local blisters may appear when the reaction is serious, which is a normal phenomenon and can be treated symptomatically and will fall off by itself after crusting. The effect can be seen only when the reaction ends in about 2 months and the local skin lesions peel off.  If the keloid is thicker than the thickness and depth of the β-radiation treatment of the applicator, it is better to go to surgery first for surgical excision treatment and then for radiopharmaceutical applicator treatment. Surgical excision alone can easily lead to recurrence of the keloid! Therefore, using surgical treatment followed by beta radiation to irradiate the wound can effectively prevent the re-formation of keloid, avoid the pain of multiple surgeries, and also play a wound skin cosmetic effect. Nuclear therapy does not require an incision but can have the effect of surgery, and no new wounds appear, and patients are painless and trauma-free. Our experience: nuclear dressing irradiation of surgical incisions can be performed as early as possible and in time as 3-5 days after surgical excision, depending on the wound healing, which can effectively inhibit the proliferation of pathological scar tissue and thus achieve the treatment purpose.  The total absorbed dose of isotope dressing for keloid treatment is 15-20 Gy, given in divided doses and can be repeated depending on the condition. The healing rate of keloid scars is 80%. After healing, the original scar keloid gradually shrinks and falls off, leaving only superficial, smooth scars with some residual pigmentation. Patients no longer have the pain and itching and foreign body sensation they had before.  It is important to note that scars are prone to recurrence, so patients should pay attention to rest, reduce stimulating diet, avoid drinking strong coffee and alcohol, and reduce exposure to hot environments such as hot springs and saunas.