Also known as radiation therapy or radio waves therapy, this procedure is also used as a post surgery treatment in order to prevent any disease from continuing to grow or reform. This method uses the power of radio waves or radio frequency that will directly be placed on the scar tissue, so you will feel a little heat while you undergo the treatment. The amount of radiation that is used in a radiotherapy is measured in grays (Gy), and differs based on the type and size of keloid being treated. Low doses of radio frequency therapy for keloid removal are generally used, typically three gray radiations for around 5 days, along with a gap of 3 months followed by which another phase of three gray radiation for 5 days will be given.
However , this may depend on the severity of the scar tissue formed. Since keloids are also a type of non-malignant growths or tumours, superficial radiation therapy is specifically designed to treat them. Keloid scars are very sensitive to the X-ray radiation, and so this type of treatment has shown immense results in preventing the keloids from returning back, almost with a 10% or lower rate of recurrence.
Usually, when treating keloids, external beam radiotherapy is most commonly used. The radio waves come from an equipment that is placed outside the body and are focused on the keloids. It will look similar to getting an X-ray, but for a longer time, say 1 to 2 minutes or longer. The most sought after treatment technique during the radiotherapy procedure is;
Superficial treatment technique - This is a type of external beam radiation therapy that makes use of X-rays, wherein the beam only enters and penetrates the surface of the skin. This kind of technique is carried to damage only the external layer of scar tissue and avoid going deep into the healthy tissue, while also helping minimise the scars that may be formed after the surgical excision. This technique is also less costly and effortlessly used when compared to other radiotherapy techniques that exist.