on my wife's (69 years old and in good health) arm about 2' below the elbow. It came up fairly suddenly about a week ago and is asymptomatic. Does it appear to be a cause for concern? It shows no sign of resolving.
HI @ttibsen that must be concerning for this skin issue to come suddenly. Do you remember, did you do anything differently or rub your arm against something that day that could be causing it?
No – she doesn't have any memory of an unusual contact, trauma, insect bite or anything of the sort so we can't ascribe anything to the sudden appearance of the lesion.
@ttibsen As us we become more mature, our skin starts to thin out. Given your wife's age, at this point she may have spent time outside without sunblock or long sleeves as a younger person. I know I certainly did! And I am paying the price for it now as someone who is fair-skinned. I get the same types of bruises that show up easily simply by brushing against something. It is the body's reaction charging all kinds of blood cells to a site where it thinks there has been an invasion. Of course I also have autoimmune issues so my body is at war with itself all the time anyways LOL. Also if your wife is taking low dose aspirin or Vitamin D supplements you have more of a tendency to bruise. It takes time for these to go away, and I would be concerned if they haven't faded in a week. For peace of mind you may want to see your primary doctor or dermatologist if you haven't had a skin check in a while for nothing else to check for sun damage. Please come back and check in with us.
Ginger
Thanks so much for that thoughtful response Ginger. You have nailed her profile exactly – porcelain skinned, a history of severe sunburns in her youth and some sort of clotting disorder that manifests once a month or so as a scary looking red blotch in the white of the eye not to mention little blood filled “blebs” that show up on her skin occasionally. She doesn’t take the baby aspirins as her blood is too “thin” already and the only vitamins she takes are the multi vitamin formulations. This particular pathology is quite different from the above mentioned phenomena that we have had in the past so that’s why I posted it to the forum. I think that your answer is most reassuring for us and we’ll give it a couple of weeks to fade. If it doesn’t cooperate, then we’ll do the primary doctor route.
It looks like it might be impetigo to me. One of my children had that when she was small, and if I'm remembering correctly, that's pretty much what it looked like. If so, she should see her doctor to get treatment for it ….. it doesn't go away on its own. abby
Ginger, Volunteer Mentor | @gingerw | Jun 12, 2019
@ttibsen Good morning, how is that spot doing now? I hope it has faded more to normal coloring by now. Remember, if your wife's system is compromisedthe healing time can be extended.
Ginger
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HI @ttibsen that must be concerning for this skin issue to come suddenly. Do you remember, did you do anything differently or rub your arm against something that day that could be causing it?
No – she doesn't have any memory of an unusual contact, trauma, insect bite or anything of the sort so we can't ascribe anything to the sudden appearance of the lesion.
@ttibsen As us we become more mature, our skin starts to thin out. Given your wife's age, at this point she may have spent time outside without sunblock or long sleeves as a younger person. I know I certainly did! And I am paying the price for it now as someone who is fair-skinned. I get the same types of bruises that show up easily simply by brushing against something. It is the body's reaction charging all kinds of blood cells to a site where it thinks there has been an invasion. Of course I also have autoimmune issues so my body is at war with itself all the time anyways LOL. Also if your wife is taking low dose aspirin or Vitamin D supplements you have more of a tendency to bruise. It takes time for these to go away, and I would be concerned if they haven't faded in a week. For peace of mind you may want to see your primary doctor or dermatologist if you haven't had a skin check in a while for nothing else to check for sun damage. Please come back and check in with us.
Ginger
Thanks so much for that thoughtful response Ginger. You have nailed her profile exactly – porcelain skinned, a history of severe sunburns in her youth and some sort of clotting disorder that manifests once a month or so as a scary looking red blotch in the white of the eye not to mention little blood filled “blebs” that show up on her skin occasionally. She doesn’t take the baby aspirins as her blood is too “thin” already and the only vitamins she takes are the multi vitamin formulations. This particular pathology is quite different from the above mentioned phenomena that we have had in the past so that’s why I posted it to the forum. I think that your answer is most reassuring for us and we’ll give it a couple of weeks to fade. If it doesn’t cooperate, then we’ll do the primary doctor route.
It looks like it might be impetigo to me. One of my children had that when she was small, and if I'm remembering correctly, that's pretty much what it looked like. If so, she should see her doctor to get treatment for it ….. it doesn't go away on its own. abby
@ttibsen Good morning, how is that spot doing now? I hope it has faded more to normal coloring by now. Remember, if your wife's system is compromisedthe healing time can be extended.
Ginger