Rubber Bands to Remove Keloids?

The Doctors issue a strong warning against using rubber bands to remove a keloid. Find out more about how this condition should be treated.

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The Doctors is an Emmy award-winning daytime talk show hosted by ER physician Dr. Travis Stork, plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon and OB-GYN Dr. Nita Landry.

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[Seductive_Psycho]

They will NEVER recommend for anything to be done at home.. that means less for them ...some ppl don't have a choice and the risk is very small.

[NVMeXX]

I tied a tiny black rubberband on my keloid and yes it turned black, shrunk and fell off and it was the best thing I ever did because no one knows that I ever had a keloid. When it fell off I immediately placed tea tree oil on the area the keloid once lived for about a month. I took the keloid off 7 years ago and it has not grown back. Everything is great and I'm not self conscious anymore. I have to add that removing my keloid cost me zero dollars.

[zacherymarshall]

I used this method and it worked for me. My keloid had grown over the back of my ear so I wasn’t able to put anything in it. Used the rubber and got it off. Also used tea tree oil for the healing process. Now you can’t tell I had a keloid. I’m not going to lie the first couple days there will be some pain, it just depends on your pain tolerance. I read some of these comments and it gave me the motivation to do it despite what these doctors are saying. Hope my comment helps someone.

[donovanrobinson]

What these doctors fail to realize is that people resort to these options because of financial inadequacy. No body has time for a simple surgery that cost $2000+. Out of touch with reality and so condescending

[phatasstoya]

After reading comments and watching videos on YouTube, I decided to take the journey as well. I’m so glad I did. Mine only took 3 days. I actually used both rubberband and string. The pressure I put was out of this world 😂. I took painkillers coz on the first day, the pain is just too much. On day 3 It got so hard and dry that I had to cut it off from the root with razor. There was no pain coz the whole keloid dried off and was so hard. I’m so happy coz I’ve been living with keloid on both ears for 10 years. Now I can style my hair and look more beautiful. Tea tree is helping the healing process. Never been this happy in my life.

[kaleonrich]

i currently have one on the back of my ear, i put the rubber band on 2 days ago, the same day it turned black and yesterday it popped & there was some type of liquid coming out. but today it popped more now it’s black and drying out. i’m waiting for it to fall off for i can put some tea tree oil on it for the scar can go away, i heard it will leave a little bump after but you can get it treated! i’ll keep who ever reading this update! goodnight

[stalepotatochips]

People resort to these things because of
1. Overall poor healthcare in the US/Don’t have insurance and can’t afford it
2. Even if you do have insurance them not wanting to cover it because they consider it “cosmetic”
3. Get it done by a doctor and it grows back twice as big anyways (if they cut it off mostly, though I know people who chose cryotherapy and it still grew back)

[faithpaintandberries]

Drs will always disagree with doing anything at home on your own where your not spending money at the drs.

[AneLicPrincess]

i had it surgically removed twice And came back bigger. So i used the rubber band And it worked for me.

[nick]

I'm not surprised that they are against this. I've had a keloid for years Had it surgically removed twice in my life and it came back they never mentioned to me as its healing to use teatree oil ( #1 Fungus Fighter) so after watching many many videos on successful people removing them with a rubberband or string I'm on my second day and I have Faith in God that my journey to being keloid free is here Hallelujah!!!! IF U NEVA EXPERIENCED HAVING ONE YOU HAVE NO IDEA !!! TEATREE OIL IT UP FRFR!!!!

[keythegreat]

Did this keloid removal with rubber band this past week. It works.

[terrim]

I can confirm that this rubber band thing works. I am not a medical professional, but if for some reason you can't get it removed by your regular doctor without paying a lot of money, I'm here to tell you this worked for me. As far as I can tell after looking into this, it has worked for a lot of people as well.
This is what I did: I tied two of those very tiny black rubberbands (that you use for hair) around it as tight as I could together at once, not separately. I took a pain pill ahead of time and did so regularly until it fell off. I used some lidocaine in a tube from Walmart (where I purchased everything for this) and put it around the rubberband that I had just tied. I also used tea tree oil.
Anyway, expect exteme, intense pain the first two to three days. After that it will get somewhat numb. It took a week to fall off, but it did and it never came back. I did not rush the process by trying to cut it off. I am so glad I did not cut off the rubber band when the pain was intense. I just let the process work and it did! I watch a lot of videos before doing it and it helped me know what to expect. I believe it took longer than usual to fall off (about a week) because I put the lidocaine around it, which didn't alow it to dry out. If I had to do it again I would do the same thing exactly. The only thing I regret was not tying the rubberband as close as possible to my skin. It was a little away from my regular skin. When you do that it leaves a very slight bump when it comes off.

[juneplumlogan]

It works cause I did it 10 years ago and it never came back, my mom told me about the trick when I was in Jamaica.

[jordanyandell]

I got a ear piercing. And got a keloid about 9 years ago cause of it. If I wore my earing it would surpress the keloid but if I took it out it kept growing and growing and it was so embarrassing. I had braces at the time and tied my braces rubber band around it.. IT HURT! But man when it fell off I felt so relieved!! It's been 6 years since it fell off and I have no sign of it besides a circle scar.

[tylervance]

Okay sorry this is going to be long. I’ve had two separate surgeries for keloids as well as doing it myself with a rubber band so I’m going to give my honest opinion about this. First, of course doctors are going to recommend seeing them, but it just costs so much. Most insurance plans don’t cover it (at least in my experience) and the cheapest place I’ve found here in Chicago was $900 per keloid, not including the consultation fee. You have to really search for a dermatologist or doctor that will work with your insurance if you can. Also, I do recommend pressure earrings and tea tree oil after any removal to prevent regrowing. The FIRST time I had a keloid removed was with using a rubber band. I used a dental rubber band since those are really sturdy. It took like 8 days, the first 2 or 3 days was super painful but the pain decreases each day after that. The last two days I didn’t even feel it. I always wore a large bandaid over my ear, and on like day 8 I went to change the bandaid and didn’t realize that the keloid was already detached. That’s how much I couldn’t even feel anything. And that was it, there was a small wound with some pus but there was literally no pain for me at all once the keloid was already off. It wasn’t until like almost a year when it started growing back again. The SECOND time, was with a surgical excision (got it cut off). Doc basically numbed it up and sliced it off, didn’t stitch my ear but did something to the wound, she used some torch type thing and it was like she was slightly burning the wound. Whatever she did, surprisingly I had next to little pain once the numbing injection had wore off. It healed pretty good but started to grow back like a month later. The THIRD time I had a keloid removed was with a surgical excision again. The doctor had to stitch a bit of my ear after, so I thought I wouldn’t have much pain after the numbing wore off, but it was the opposite. This time the pain was so bad I could barely drive home. It healed pretty well but the keloid started to grow back like 3 months later.
Obviously I’m not a doctor, and there is always risk of infection via the rubber band method but in my opinion (aside from the pain from the first days) it was the best.

[Doritostaco]

This method WORKS 100%. It was painful and gross but the process is worth it no more keloids for good!

[autreUS]

My keloid scar is flat and I got it 15 years ago. But now my left breast is darker than the other, and it looks really ugly and I hate it. I just hope some guy doesn’t think the same and make me feel worse about it.

[saffirechanning]

WTH are they talking about, huh? I used a rubber band to get RID of my ear keloid and it WORKED just FINE! In fact, it worked BETTER than when I went to a dermatologist to get my keloid surgically removed. After I did that, the damn thing just GREW RIGHT BACK! But after I used the rubber band method, it FELL OFF my ear and STAYED AWAY! I still have some scar tissue but I can LIVE with that. I'm just SO GLAD that HUGE, UGLY mass of flesh to GONE!

[avrom]

I tied mine with a string and it fell off itself

[rozinan]

Tea tree oil people!! No matter how big or small it is. Be consistent with 100% tea tree oil