KELOID AND HYPERTROPHIC SCARS - TRACE-ELEMENT ALTERATION

The state of excessive fibroblastic proliferation for wound healing re sults in hypertrophic and keloid scars. It has been well established t hat some of the trace elements (such as zinc) are essential in wound h ealing, and there are appreciable changes in trace elements in various disease states. The levels of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and selenium (Se) in serum, normal skin and scar of 40 keloid and hyp ertrophic scar patients were assessed. There was a significant increas e of manganese (Mn) level in skin of burn, trauma, and surgical incisi on patients compared to controls with p < 0.0013, p < 0.0001, and p < 0.046, respectively. Furthermore, the zinc, copper, and selenium conte nts of the skin in incision patients were decreased significantly when compared to other groups. No significant changes occurred regarding s erum levels of zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium in the different groups. From this study, no relationships between the hypertrophic and keloid scar to trace elements were found; however, because of the lim ited numbers of patients, a definite conclusion could not be drawn.