Managing keloid scars: From radiation therapy to actual and potential drug deliveries

The aetiology of keloids is becoming clearer, but many questions remain, including about the most optimal treatment. Current therapies include surgical excision, radiotherapy, and various pharmaceutical drugs. However, none of these drugs are keloid-specific. Moreover, all current interventions are associated with high recurrence rates. Here, we review the pharmaceutical interventions that are currently available. All are based on the fact that keloids are an expanding solid mass with intense chronic inflammation at its advancing edges. Consequently, current pharmaceuticals aim to reduce the mass and/or symptoms of keloids, similar to surgery and radiotherapy. They include chemotherapies, immunotherapies, volume-reducing therapies, and anti-inflammatory therapies. We also describe new advances in keloid pharmaceuticals. They include drugs that were designed to treat systemic diseases such as hypertension or breast cancer but were found to also treat keloids. Furthermore, recent progress in genetic, epigenetic, and stem cell therapies suggests that they could become useful in the keloid field. This review of pharmaceutical advances will hopefully promote additional research and the development of effective and specific pharmaceuticals for keloids.