Dh And Minor Wounds?

[drgoogle]

Does anyone else find that if you get a paper cut, or a small scratch (e.g. my dog scratched me last week), it bubbles/blisters up and takes forever to heal?

I've read DH shows up in areas that are more subject to trauma. Does this also mean wounds can become blistered due to DH too?

I've found since the onset of my symptoms that minor wounds can become a problem whereas prior to the onset of my rash I had no problem at all with wound healing.

(I have no confirmed diagnosis but am very suspicious it's DH, waiting on biopsy results though the biopsy was of a lesion not of normal skin).

[Hopeful1950]

Absolutely! I have experienced the bubbling and blistering and itching with paper cuts and the worst was on the sites that the dermatologist biopsied. I also have blistered from clothing rubbing my skin. If I use bandaids I have to be careful when removing them not to traumatize the skin (soak them off in the bath) or I will get blisters where the skin was pulled when the bandage was removed.

[drgoogle]

Absolutely! I have experienced the bubbling and blistering and itching with paper cuts and the worst was on the sites that the dermatologist biopsied. I also have blistered from clothing rubbing my skin. If I use bandaids I have to be careful when removing them not to traumatize the skin (soak them off in the bath) or I will get blisters where the skin was pulled when the bandage was removed.

Thanks Hopeful. I had read about trauma to the skin but wasn't sure what it ended up looking like in most people. What you describe is what I'm experiencing too. At my biopsy site, I have a circle of blisters. Also makes sense that my worst-hit place initially was my lower legs, where I shave the most (that's trauma!) and why I initially thought the whole thing started from 2 mosquito bites but no tests ever showed any sign of infection - it wasn't that the bites were infected, just that they were injured spots of my skin so the first targeted by my new friend DH. My torso is least affected - basically there's no friction or trauma to that area. My arms are about the only place getting much new reactions right now, while my legs are very very slowly healing. My face has been relatively unaffected.

The bandaid thing - when I first started getting bumps, they were oozing and so I used bandaids and literally I'd get more bumps in the exact shape of the bandaid, which I thought pointed to a latex or adhesive allergy. But I seem okay with rubber/latex now. In general things don't get too bad now unless I get a scrape/cut. The new bumps I get in non-injured places are much more minor than they were when I was still knowingly consuming gluten.

The two scratches I got from my dog look disgusting - back when I was "normal" they would have just scabbed and healed in a week. Going on 3 weeks and they're literally two lines of bubbles. But before, even the non-injured skin would turn into these nasty blistered lesions.

This is so frustrating! Thanks again for your reply. Sorry to respond with a frustrated novel...that's just how I'm feeling at this point!

[Hopeful1950]

Hey Dr. Google, I just followed the link you posted in the other thread. Good information about trauma to the skin. My DH also started on my ankles. The next place was upper back and neck. Then lower legs and arms. I have a tendency to scratch and rub in my sleep and I'll just bet that the trauma from that is causing old lesions to blister over and over again. I too am so frustrated. I have not been without this itchy mess for almost 8 years now.

Have you considered trying the Dapsone? If you can take it, you will see relief quickly. (I had a blissfull month without itching) Backed up with a gluten-free diet is seems like the way to go if you can tolerate it. There are some folks on the forum who have taken it for years and have done well. I am so sad that I couldn't tolerate it.

[drgoogle]

None of my doctors have mentioned Dapsone and I'm always afraid to suggest anything for fear of offending them.

My dermatologist did a biopsy tonight to rule out DH at my prompting and after seeing some new lesions on my arms, so I have that going in to the lab in addition to the one my family doc did in December. The derm took a 4mm punch so I think he got some adjacent normal skin which my family doc did not. 6 weeks til I hear results though...

and if it is not DH, I asked my derm what I would do then. If it's "just eczema," then what? He said he could try getting me in to a different allergist than the one who said "this has nothing to do with food, it's just an acute allergic reaction." Perhaps a different allergist/immunologist will be able to get to the bottom of this.

[mushroom]

None of my doctors have mentioned Dapsone and I'm always afraid to suggest anything for fear of offending them.

A sad reflection indeed on the fragility of the M.D. ego Your doctor is supposed to be your partner in your health care, not your dictator, and certainly not someone to be afraid of How can we get the right medical care if we can't have a frank discussion with our doctors?

[drgoogle]

A sad reflection indeed on the fragility of the M.D. ego Your doctor is supposed to be your partner in your health care, not your dictator, and certainly not someone to be afraid of How can we get the right medical care if we can't have a frank discussion with our doctors?

I agree with you mushroom - we as patients should be the central part of our healthcare team, but my doctors don't even really communicate with my other doctors (wouldn't it be ideal for the dermatologist and allergist to have some kind of communication?), but I also have a concern that I'm already doing way too much self-diagnosis and need to "trust" my doctors which is why it took me a couple months to even ask my dermatologist about DH and then another couple weeks to ask for a biopsy. Honestly I think my dermatologist really doesn't think it's DH and so he would be very reluctant to prescribe dapsone.

Another question for any of you with DH - do you get recurrent lesions in the same spot just when you think that spot has healed? Until the purplish scar left behind from a lesion has completely faded away, which seems to take a long time, I seem to be susceptible to getting another bump in that same spot, though not as bad as the original.

[Hopeful1950]

dr google, I have many lesions that have never completely healed because they will blister again either on the lesion or very close to the lesion. Some have grown to the size of silver dollars at times. I have noticed that after being strictly gluten-free (for about 6 months) blisters that appear on previously unaffected skin can often "fizzle out". I also have vitiligo where lesions have completely healed. Hundreds of little depigmented areas on my back and forearms. The allergist told me that this is often the case with celiac. Another thing I have noticed is that when a lesion is ready to heal completely it happens almost overnight after months and months of bugging me.

I would go ahead ask your doc for Dapsone. I brought information with me to the doc and begged! I am a surgeon's daughter and have worked in a large specialist practice for 13 years. Sometimes out and out begging works. It was the allergist that was willing to work with me. He is very compassionate and could see how I was suffering. He also is very curious and partnered with me to figure this thing out. Some of my research on Dapsone has indicated that a cimetidine chaser and Vitamin C taken concurrently can help with the side effects. I printed out all the reliable information on Dapsone I could find and brought it with me, then the CNP looked up additional information while I was in the office so she could order the appropriate lab tests to monitor my blood and liver levels while I was on the therapy. It would be my hope that you could tolerate the drug until the antibodies clear your skin because the relief was amazing.