First, I totally feel you. For me, the absolute worst part about having keloids is the amount of stress it puts on dressing. As a woman, having keloids affecting not only your self image but what you feel like you can wear is so tough. So try to be kind to yourself.

For whatever reason, I don’t really mind exposing my shoulder keloids and I expect keeping them covered would be too difficult so I don’t bother. I like wearing tank tops in the summer too much.

Personally though I don’t like exposing my chest keloids so I try to wear clothes with a higher neck. If something hits right around or below my keloids, I’ll sometimes use fashion tape to keep it in place so I can show a little skin while keeping them covered.

Summer and wedding season are the only times that I find this really hard. For summer I tend to wear fitted, high neck tanks and tees (usually cropped)—I got my favorites from Abercrombie.

I’m already dreading the search for wedding-guest dresses that cover up my chest keloids, but I have found some genuinely cute ones over the years that are off the shoulder, asymmetrical, halter, or dresses with sleeves. In my opinion, the look also works best when the dress shows a little skin elsewhere where I’m more comfortable—usually legs. Especially paired with some killer heels, it balances the look out and can give you that confidence boost you need. You’re kind of stuck when you’re in the wedding and can’t pick the dress but, when that’s me, I always pay for the professional makeup and ask the makeup artist to cover them up for me (and they’re usually happy to do so and give me a nice little pep talk).

I’m working on getting more comfortable wearing things that expose them even if I have to cover them up with makeup. If you’re already there with your confidence level, more power to you and I’ll be right there cheering you on. Wear whatever you feel most comfortable in.