Objective：To investigate the inhibitory effect of artemisinin on human skin keloid fibroblasts and its related mechanism. Methods：Primary isolation，culture and passage of human keloid fibroblasts were performed. Human keloid fibroblasts were pretreated with different concentrations of artemisinin，and cell proliferation was measured by CCK-8 method every 24 hours for 5 consecutive days to observe the optimal concentration of drug treatment. The following experiments were divided into four groups：blank group，artemisinin group，artemisinin+IL-6 group and artemisinin+AG490 group. Flow cytometry was used to detect the apoptosis rate in the early stage of each group，real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase（MMP）2，MMP9 and STAT3 in each group，and Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of MMP2，MMP9，STAT3 and p-STAT3 in each group. Results：According to the results of CCK-8，150 μg/mL artemisinin cells for 48 hours were selected as the concentration and time of follow-up intervention. Flow cytometry results showed that the percentage of early apoptotic cells in artemisinin group，artemisinin+IL-6 group and artemisinin+AG490 group was significantly higher than that in the blank group，and the percentage of early apoptotic cells in artemisinin+IL-6 group was lower than that in artemisinin group and artemisinin+AG490 group（P < 0.01）. Real - time PCR showed that compared with the blank group，the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 mRNA in artemisinin，artemisinin+IL-6 groups，artemisinin+AG490 group were significantly lower（P < 0.01）. The expressions of MMP2，MMP9 mRNA in artemisinin，artemisinin+AG490 group were lower than in artemisinin+IL-6 group（P < 0.01）. Western blot showed that compared with the blank group，the expressions of STAT3，p-STAT3，MMP2，MMP9 protein in artemisinin，artemisinin+IL-6 groups，artemisinin+ AG490 group were significantly lower（P < 0.01）. The expressions of p-STAT3，MMP2，MMP9 protein in artemisinin，artemisinin+AG490 group were lower than in artemisinin+IL-6 group（P < 0.01）. Conclusion：Artemisinin has an inhibitory effect on keloid，and its mechanism may inhibit the experession of MMP2，MMP9 by inhibiting the excessive activation of p-STAT3.