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@pkalkstein

I showed my bruised arms to my dermatologist and asked "Is there anything I can do to counter the effect of prednisone thinning my skin?" He looked at me and said, "Nope." I'm getting used to touch-bruises and gashes on my legs but I don't like it. Presently on 8 mg prednisone.

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Replies to "I showed my bruised arms to my dermatologist and asked "Is there anything I can do..."

I am the same way and have to be careful playing with the cats. Also the other day I was down my front metal stairs and turned, bumping my arm against the end of the railing. I looked at it instinctively and was surprised it was bleeding. I had scraped a small triangle patch of skin off. Crazy. Prior to that, I banged the back of my hand against a wooden chair. It healed but I have a bump there now. ugh.
I'm so clumsy and we need to be careful.

I never had a big problem with bruising and thin skin while on prednisone. I did have patches of skin so thin it was translucent. I had to cover those areas because the sun would burn right through my skin.

There wasn't much anyone could do except encourage me to taper off prednisone. I appreciated their concern for the areas of skin on the outside that were visible. I didn't like it when they said the same thing was happening on the inside where it can't be seen.

I'm off prednisone now and the translucent areas of skin are now opaque white and looks like scar tissue.

I wish you good luck with tapering off prednisone. It was so easy taking prednisone when the pain was bad. All I had to do was increase my dose and pain relief was almost instantaneous.

The hard part starts to happen when you get down to the physiological dose of prednisone.

"Tapering is generally based on provider, patient preference, and tolerance of the taper. Work closely with specialists (eg, rheumatology, endocrinology) to ensure unified goals for the patient."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1555415519302235?dgcid=rss_sd_all

The bruising is so unsightly! I bought thin white leggings to wear with dresses and I don’t wear shorts. Yuck. Sorry for us.

I relate to getting the bruises and gashes. In my pre prednisone life if I bumped the coffee table there was little to show. Now disaster ! I get bleeding ( I’m on blood thinners ) and the wound takes forever to heal. It just seems to be one complication after another.