For keloid and scar work, look for a qualified plastic surgeon who sees scars regularly, who examines you properly before proposing anything, who offers a combination of measures rather than surgery alone, and who tells you openly that keloids can come back. The single most useful test is how a surgeon talks about recurrence. Someone who raises it before you ask is describing the condition accurately. Someone who promises the scar will be gone is not, and that one sentence tells you more than any advertisement.
What qualifications should a keloid surgeon have?
Scar surgery sits within plastic and reconstructive surgery. The recognised postgraduate qualifications in India are M.Ch. Plastic Surgery or DNB in plastic surgery, taken after a general surgical training. These are the letters worth checking. A doctor may be excellent at many things and still not be a plastic surgeon, and skin clinics offering scar procedures are not always led by one. You are entitled to ask what the qualification is, where it was obtained and when.
For reference, Dr. Ashutosh Shah holds M.Ch. Plastic Surgery from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and DNB from the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, and practises in Surat as a Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgeon with more than 22 years of surgical experience.
Does it matter how often the surgeon treats scars?
Yes, and more than people assume. Keloids are managed rather than simply removed, which means the surgeon needs judgement about which scars to operate on, which to treat without surgery and which to leave alone. That judgement comes from seeing a lot of scars over a long period and following them for years afterwards. Ask how frequently the surgeon treats keloids, whether they routinely combine surgery with injections, pressure or other adjuncts, and how they follow patients up. A surgeon who works across reconstructive and cosmetic practice sees scars in every context, which is useful here.
What does teaching and training experience tell you?
A surgeon who teaches is a surgeon whose technique has been examined by peers. Dr. Ashutosh Shah has trained more than 90 surgeons in hands on workshops and founded Elegance Vidhyalaya, and his microvascular and replantation training includes the highest volume of replantations among his cohort in Gujarat. Teaching credentials do not by themselves make someone right for your scar, but they do indicate a practice that is open to scrutiny rather than closed.
What should the first consultation feel like?
A good consultation is unhurried and mostly examination and conversation. Expect the surgeon to look at the scar directly, feel it, ask how it began, ask what has already been tried and ask what bothers you most about it. Expect photographs for comparison later. Expect to be told which type of scar you have, what the options are, what each one involves and what it cannot do. You should leave understanding the plan well enough to explain it to your family at home.
What are the warning signs?
Some things should make you pause and take another opinion:
- Any promise that the scar will be removed or made invisible.
- Before and after images that look nothing like a fair comparison, or that are used as proof of a typical result.
- A price quoted over the phone or on chat before anyone has examined the scar.
- Pressure to decide today, or a discount that expires.
- Surgery offered on its own for a keloid, with no mention of what follows it.
- Reluctance to discuss recurrence, complications or what happens if the result disappoints.
- No written estimate, or a figure that does not say what is included.
None of these on its own proves bad intent. A clinic may simply market clumsily. But two or three of them together usually mean the practice is selling a procedure rather than assessing a problem, and with keloids that difference shows up months later when the scar returns and nobody had prepared you for it.
How do you check someone's credentials in India?
Qualifications are registrable with the state medical council, and a clinic should be willing to tell you the registration details without fuss. Look at whether the practice describes its scope honestly, whether the surgeon is named on the material rather than hidden behind a brand, and whether the clinic has an actual address you can visit. Reviews are worth reading for how problems were handled rather than for the praise.
Should you take a second opinion?
For any procedure involving cost, anaesthesia or a long treatment plan, a second opinion is sensible and no reasonable surgeon minds. It is particularly useful when two clinics have proposed very different things, or when you have been told nothing can be done. Take your photographs and any records of previous treatment with you so the second surgeon is assessing the same history.
How should cost be handled?
Cost should be discussed openly and put in writing before you are admitted, with a clear statement of what the figure covers and what might be additional. At this clinic a written estimate is given before admission. Ask specifically whether the quoted amount includes the adjuvant treatment that follows surgery, because for keloids that follow up work is not optional and it continues for months. Whether any part is claimable from insurance depends on your policy and on how the problem is documented.
What if you are not local to Surat?
Many people travel for scar treatment, and that is workable, but keloid care needs review over months. Before committing, ask how the follow up will be organised, whether some reviews can be done remotely, and who will give the injections if you cannot travel each time. Enquiries at this clinic go to WhatsApp, and it is reasonable to send clear photographs first to find out whether a visit is worth making.
Choose the surgeon who explains the limits of what is possible, not the one who removes them. Scar treatment is a relationship that runs over months, and the qualities that matter most are honesty about recurrence, a willingness to answer the same question twice, and a follow up system that actually works when you need it. Credentials get someone onto your list. How they talk to you decides the rest.
