Q: My 14-year-old daughter burnt her arm at the joint of the forearm and upper arm when she was 3 years old. She had developed a post-burn keloid at the site. When she was 11 we got conscious of this rather unusually large scar. We consulted a dermatologist who started with CRYO Therapy. We persisted with it for sometime with infrequent visits and also tried Silica Gel on his recommendation. But the progress was very slow, therefore, two weeks back, the dermatologist decided to inject 10 mg Tricort Injection into the scar. After a fortnight, another doze of 10 mg Tricort was given to her. But we learnt that Tricort is a kind of steroid, so we got concerned about the possible side effects. Can we give this to our 14-year-old daughter and for how long?

A:The best treatment for hypertrophic scars or keloids is compression therapy by massage or using pressure garments, silicone sheets or Inj. Kenacort locally in low doses (Like 10 mg) every 3 to 4 weeks. If all these fail, one can consider surgery. Your dermatologist is a qualified person, and please have faith in your doctor. Healing is greatly influenced by belief and compliance with the doctor's treatment, so do what he says.