What Works · March 25, 2026 · 5 min · By Queenie Halvorsen
Do over-the-counter scar creams work on keloids?
Separating the few useful products from the many that overpromise.
The pharmacy shelf is full of scar creams promising to erase keloids, and patients reasonably want to know which, if any, are worth buying. The honest answer is narrow.
The one over-the-counter category with genuine evidence is silicone, gels and sheets, which, used consistently on a healing scar for weeks to months, can reduce the chance and severity of raised scarring. It is most valuable for prevention and early scars rather than flattening a large, established keloid. Most other heavily marketed creams, including those built around onion extract and assorted botanicals, have weak or inconsistent evidence and rarely make a meaningful dent in a true keloid.
What no cream does is replace medical treatment for an established keloid, steroid injections, procedural treatment, and combinations remain the effective tools. The reasonable use of over-the-counter products is silicone for prevention and early scars, while seeing a dermatologist for anything that is already a raised, growing keloid. Spending months on botanical creams for an established keloid is the common, avoidable way people delay the treatment that would actually help.
Related reading: Cryotherapy for keloids: freezing the overgrowth.