Keloid Evidence

What the research
actually says
about keloids.

Most keloid pages repeat statistics that fall apart when you trace them. They also leave out the number that defines the condition: how often it comes back.

Start here How often do keloids come back? 14 figures, split by body site and treatment. Each shows how long patients were watched. Earlobe keloids came back in 5.7% of cases. The ear just above them: 38.5%. Same study, same dose, same follow-up. Read it → New Do the popular keloid remedies actually work? 13 widely repeated claims — vitamin E, onion extract, garlic, apple cider vinegar and more. Each is traced to the study it rides on, with a plain verdict on whether that study supports it. One top health site gets the surgery risk backwards. Read it → For pierced ears Keloid or piercing bump? How to tell what that lump is The one distinction that matters: does it grow beyond the original wound? Plus what else a piercing lump can be — and the popular timing rule we could not trace to any study, so we do not repeat it. Read it →

How this site works

Every claim shows its evidence

You see what kind of study each claim rests on, and how solid that evidence is. A lab result never gets to look like a clinical one.

Every recurrence figure shows its clock

Keloids usually come back one to two years after treatment. Most combination studies only watch patients for 11 months. We mark every figure whose study stopped watching too soon.

We say when a citation doesn't fit

Having references is not the same as the references fitting the claim. We keep a register of 21 repeated claims that do not survive tracing.

Currently built from 17 traced claims, 13 adjudicated remedy claims and 46 sources. This is an early version and grows as tracing finishes.