Combination Therapy Composed of Surgery, Postoperative Radiotherapy, and Wound Self-management for Umbilical Keloids

A universally accepted therapeutic strategy for umbilical keloids has not been determined. Our team has had considerable success with combination therapy composed of surgical excision followed by postoperative radiotherapy and steroid plaster/injection.

All consecutive patients with umbilical keloids that developed from endoscopic surgical scars and underwent minimal-margin keloid excision followed by umbilicoplasty with a flap if needed, tension-reduction suturing, and postoperative radiotherapy in 2013-2017 in the keloid/scar-specialized clinic at the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery of Nippon Medical School. The postsurgical radiotherapy regimen was 15 Gy administered in 2 fractions over 2 consecutive days. Radiotherapy was followed by tension-reducing wound self-management with silicone tape or, if needed, steroid plaster. The primary study focus was keloid recurrence during the 24-month follow-up period. Recurrence was defined as the growth of stiff red lesions in even small areas of the scar that was refractory to 2-6 months of steroid-plaster therapy.

The case series consisted of 34 patients with 34 lesions. Three lesions (8.8%) recurred. One recurrence was successfully treated by concomitant steroid plaster/injection. The other 2 cases were resistant to steroid injection and underwent reoperation without radiotherapy followed by 6 months of steroid-plaster therapy. None of the 3 cases recurred within 2 years of steroid plaster/injection completion or reoperation.

Umbilical keloids can be successfully treated by customized treatment plans that involve appropriate surgical modalities (including umbilicoplasty, if required), postoperative radiotherapy (15 Gy/2 fractions/2 days), and wound/scar self-management with silicone tape and steroid plaster.