A Pattern of Breast Hypertrophic and Keloidal Scar: Can a Scar be a Scare in Blacks?

Dermal scars follow different kinds of injury to the skin including that of the breast. Any lesion on the female breast raises suspicion especially when it mimics breast cancer. Nodular keloidal lesions on the breast may generate some anxiety and scare in the light of public awareness and aggressive preventive campaigns about breast cancer. The psychosocial strain of a false alarm can be severe. Eleven cases of hypertrophic/keloidal lesions of the breast were examined for pattern and extent among female patients presenting at a dermatology clinic who expressed fears about the possibility of underlying disease apart from the scar lesion. None of the cases had any clinical evidence to suggest breast malignancy. Future and larger studies may need to evaluate the anxiety cost of breast cancer scare among black women who develop scars on the breast.