Does A Skin Biopsy Hurt?

[mistyfog]

Hi,

I have realized this week that my son may have celiac - he has nasty rashes on lower legs and lower arms (both). Very itchy. The rash has been coming and going (sometimes just seems like dry skin) for a couple years.

Anyhow - how does the doctor do a biopsy of the skin? Does it hurt? I'm trying to find the least invasive method for confirming the problem (blood test panel for Celiac being processed this week).

Are there any do-it-at-home tests for DH?

Thank you very much,

misty

[cdford]

The skin biopsy is not overly painful. The doctor gives a local anesthetic then uses a tool that cuts a small circular section from the skin. Stitches are used to close it up. They are the worst part...they itch as they heal. You might want to have your younger child look at your face while the doctor does the biopsy so that the fear factor is minimized. Talk to him while it is happening so that he continues to look at you instead of what the doc is doing. A good doctor can do this quickly and relatively painlessly.

[mistyfog]

Thank you for the reply!

I was somehow hoping (!) that it just involved a bit of scraping on dry skin!

I guess we'll do it if the blood tests come back inconclusive.

Thanks again,

misty

[PennyG]

There are actually two types of skin biopsies -- one where they do the circular section that is removed and the other is the skin scraping. I was supposed to have the scraping, but because I had been applying a prescribed cream, they weren't able to do it and ended up having two sections removed. The local helps and it just feels like a pinch in the area. My doctor didn't stitch my biopsy areas and just had me keep it clean and covered.

Penny

[cdford]

I suspect that because we had secondary infections (in fact, my daughter's had gone into some oddly named thing that took me weeks to research) we had to have deeper biopsies. Hope you can get away with the scrape one, but if not, don't sweat it. The rounded cut is not that bad.

[casnco]

I just had the circular type of biosey done. The doctor was very good with me. I went to a dermitologist. My worst site was on my elbow and back so he did two biopseys on my elbow and one on my back. It was pain free. Actually it was a very curious proceedure and I tried to watch when he did it on my elbow. He did not stitch my sites because they were not in highly visable areas. Quite a few years ago I had a rash on my face he was unable to treat, it was probably related to the DH back then but he didn't test for DH, on that biopsey he did stitch. I cant even see the site where he did it.

Good luck! Hope everything turns out well for your son.

[Marciatin]

I had punch biopsies, I think this is what you are all calling circular. They used a local wasn't painful at all, no stitches. Did take a while to heal, but not painful. Still have a scars but hasn't even been 2 months.