Scar-struck

By Lin Kan Hsuan Source:Global Times Published: 2014-4-13 19:23:01

Parents must make decisions about scar removal treatment for children who are too young to decide for themselves. Photo: IC

Wearing a pink hat and sucking on a pacifier, 2-year-old Yuanyuan (pseudonym) is an adorable baby girl - with a 3-cm-long scar upon the right side of her forehead. One month ago, the toddler lost her balance and crashed against the corner of a table. The resulting scar - dark-red, bumpy and itchy - is hard to ignore.

"I feel so guilty for not baby-proofing the sharp-edged furniture," said Yuanyuan's mother, Kelly Huo, 24. "Because the scar is on Yuanyuan's face, I am determined to remove it no matter how much it may cost." As the worried mom gently touched her daughter's scar, the girl smiled and waved her hands to ask for a hug.

Outside the scar-removal outpatient clinic at Beijing Children's Hospital in Xicheng district, several parents wait. They hold children or infants who, for the most part, are sporting big, dark-brown scars on the uncovered parts of their bodies: faces, arms and legs. The blotches are keloids, scar tissue which grows larger than the area of the skin originally damaged.

Two months ago, pediatric dermatologist Xu Zigang, having realized that there was increasing demand for scar removal treatments, launched the clinic - the only one in China specialized for children. The outpatient clinic operates on Monday mornings, Thursday and Friday afternoons and all day on Sundays.

"We don't yet have a lot of parents bringing their children in, because they are not aware that scar removal is an option," said Xu.

After examining Yuanyuan's keloid, he prescribed medicated wound dressings. "Compared to other treatments, such as injections or laser surgery, this less-invasive treatment will allow Yuanyuan to avoid additional physical pain."

Based on his two decades of clinical experience, Xu said that keloid scarring is most likely to show up on the chest, upper arms and upper back. He added, "The medical literature shows that the skin of Asians is more likely to scar than that of Westerners."

Unfortunately, neither parents nor doctors can know whether a child is prone to develop keloids until he or she actually sustains an injury. Although some children may inherit their parents' propensity for scarring, it is not strictly a genetic condition, according to Xu. "An individual's tendency to scar may be a result of hyperplasia," he said, referring to an atypical proliferation of cells. "It's difficult to say."

 "Ideally, parents should exercise caution to reduce the possibility of their children suffering cuts and scrapes," Xu said. "But if an accident happens, the parents can bring their kids here, because early treatment can help control the possible expansion of the scars."

However, when the scar tissue does not affect the child's appearance or ability to function, most parents opt against pursuing treatment. "If an injury is on a joint such as the elbow, the scar tissue will restrict the child from bending their arm properly. That gets the parents' attention," he said. "Aside from the scars that affect physical movement, though, most keloids cause no further harm." 

 "The scar removal treatment could be compared to a type of plastic surgery for kids," Xu added. "Therefore, the decision to seek treatment depends mainly on how the parents feel about the scars."

Considering that parents are increasingly concerned with giving their children every advantage in life, Xu predicts that more and more of them will seek out the possibility of giving their children the ability to heal from injuries without any unwanted "souvenirs."



Posted in: Metro Beijing

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