Shape

by Dr. Steven Wallach

There has been success in flattening keloids (knobby growths of scar tissue most common in people of Mediterranean or African descent) by first having the keloid sliced or frozen off, followed by a series of steroid injections – one right after surgery then three follow-up shots over the next three months (cost: de­pending on the extent of the scar, $1,000-$5,000 to excise it and $250 per injection). “This combination works in 70-80 percent of patients,” says Steven G. Wallach, M.D., assistant clinical professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.