keloid scarring and cultural competency

 

this is a subject close to my heart and on my mind for a long time. the incompetence I often find among practitioners of western medicine when it comes to keloid scarring post birth.

 

keloid scarring is a body raising a scar –  building too much scar tissue. the western medicine solution if its problematic is to cut it away. in this last year I have helped three women avoid having a part of their lower abdomen cut away when a caesarean scar began to keloid and the other two were being offered surgery to cut away a piece of their perineum right at the vaginal opening. no other treatments or options suggested.

 

keloiding is so quick and easy to treat with traditional medicine. the latter two of these women had been living with tight uncomfortable scarring in the worst place for over a year. they came to me very distressed. the implications for a woman’s physical comfort, her sex life and thus her relationship and her mental health are huge. 

 

traditionally we treat raised scars like this with daily castor oil compresses – ideally overnight. a great kitchen cure all. a little castor oil on a piece of brushed cotton on to the affected area with a heat source placed over it like a hot water bottle. all three of these women had a huge reduction overnight and were almost completely back to normal within a matter of days.

 

why don’t healthcare practitioners know this? I’d put forward the idea that it’s because it mainly happens with black and brown people and our western medicine model is geared towards white men. just ask a woman suffering from fibroids, lupus or endometriosis.  the treatments offered are often extreme and few and far between. traditional medicine has so much to offer and can frequently heal the problem altogether.

 

I have so many urgent questions.

 

how many black and brown women are having a good part of their genitals cut away? experiencing all that comes along with that very challenging experience. I’m imagining a fair few in light of the fact we know there are way more interventions and much more risk in this group of women.

 

why did someone need to travel 26 miles to find a bottle of bloody castor oil which used to be a kitchen staple? someone will pipe up that it’s toxic. so is bleach but not if used properly and most of us only have to walk a few steps to a local shop to buy this.

 

how can we get this very simple, easy remedy to be common knowledge among midwives and GP’s and gynaecologists and plastic surgeons so women avoid the extreme alternative?

 

how can we get this knowledge out to women so it’s widely known? 

 

what is the resistance to recommending non-pharmaceutical solutions?

 

help me by sharing with mama’s and midwives and birthkeeper’s of all kinds.