The treatment of keloids with intralesional bleomycin.

Introduction : Treatment of keloids is often disappointing and sometime quite difficult to manage. In addition to unpleasent esthetic effects, treatment may also produce functional impairment due to pruritis and contraction of the scar tissue. Patients and methods: We proposed a new treatment scheme using intralesional infiltrations of bleomycin. Results : We treated 31 keloids and 5 hypertrophic scars with 3 to 5 infiltrations within a 1-month period. Total regression was obtained in 25 keloids and hypertrophic scars. Important regression was obtained in 6 keloids (86 % good results). Treatment was effective in all cases within the first 2 infiltrations evidenced by a reduction in the volume of the kheloid and clear reduction of functional impairment in most patients. Conclusion: Effective well-tolerated treatment without pain was achieved with infiltration suggesting that this treatment should be used as first line therapy for keloids.