I am looking for info. I have had slightly raised red spots on my legs and lower arms for about a year but now they number in the hundreds. While looking for info online I saw some pics of Vasculitis on the legs and though the pic was a more extreme case mine sure look like them.
I will see my Dr in May to ask her but just wanted any info from those who have it.
Thanks.
Laker and I both have vasculitis. This can be anywhere from annoying to quite serious. You need to have it checked right away because if you have it it means your blood vessels are inflamed just like your joints can be and it can cause all kinds of damage. There are different kinds varying on the size of the blood vessels affected. Yours sounds like small vessel vasculitis. I get ulcers and lesions. These can happen internally as well as externally and often require a biopsy for diagnosis. I absolutely need to have your Rheumatologist see these right away. You also want to get a referral to a dermatologist. Don't wait until May, please.Ok. I do have a skin Dr I can see. Did yours start out as red spots and do you have them on your legs or arms? Sorry to have so many questions. I hate that we can't just deal with having one thing only.
Thanks Deanna
Bonny,
Can you tell me where you saw photos on the web? I am going for my first visit tot he rheumatologist on Monday. I have red spots on both legs and now a couple of spots on my arms. My doctor first said I had dry skin, use lots of body lotion. After those couple of spots didn't disappear and more came, I was told it was a "fungus" and given a prescription cream to use for 2 weeks. This cream did not work. I plan to show them to my new doctor on Monday. My spots do not itch, but are red and raised, and they don't hurt.
I sure would like to find those photos if you could remember the website. I'll keep looking though.
Thanks.
Hi Bonny,
My first skin sign of vasculitis started on my legs. Then arms, hands,m torso and now some on my face. I have gotten raised spots, a rash that looks like a sunburn and larger flat spots. Sometimes also odd bruises and little lines coming off the veins that later spread out into tiny bruises. It is really important that you get this checked out. If one doc says it is nothing get a 2nd opinion to be sure. Hope you get an answer soon.
Laker
Hi everyone,
I was originally told I had a fungal infection related to the MTX and then told that it was "flat warts", a HPV viral infection related to the immunosuppression. Now the rheumatologist is questioning the first dermatologist and sending me to a second derm for a biopsy. She said she isn't sure that this is a skin infection, asked questions about psorasis and then suggested that this might be due to the disease itself, I suspect she means vasculitis. My "spots" start off raised and red and then get darker, scaly sometimes. They seldom itch. You can see my veins in my legs sometime, looks like lace - not attractive but not painful either.
How is vasculitis diagnosed?
Mine started on my face, arms, legs and buttocks. The first one that was really bad was the one I had in the hospital when I got pericarditis and it was black. They also seemed to appear in line down my legs. Mine were itchy, raised like boils. They never could get a good one for biopsy which is the sure fire way to get them diagnosed. But you also have to have someone in the biopsy office to be able to recognize what they are looking at. For instance, I was not confident with what they told me I had at first (which wasn't vasulitis) because the pathologist looked it up on the Internet and thought it looked something like that. I was pretty mad that seemed to be the way they would diagnosis it.