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Question: Hi, I am a 27 year old female with PLEVA. I wrote to you some time ago and have not received a response. I have had PLEVA for 17months. I have never went in remission, but have continued to get worse as time goes on. I am seeing a natural doctor and hope that will help. My problem is that I am losing my hair at an alarming rate--soon I will be bald. I have not heard of balding as a side effect. Can you help me? Have you heard of anyone with this problem for PLEVA? I do not have sores on my head and hair loss does not run in my family. I am getting married in 3 months and hope to have hair. Please help in anyway you can. Thank you for all the info. you have posted on this site. It has been very helpful.
Answer: In answer to your question, this is a symptom I have not heard of before. I have had a loss of hair since I have had the disease, but I felt it was related to my age or all the medicine I have been on. I have not mentioned it because of that assumption. Maybe other people have had it and haven't mentioned it. As far as doing something about this problem, have you mentioned it to any of your care providers? Something like minoxidil may help. You need to be aware of side effects and talk to your primary since it is by prescripion. Are you on medicines that may have this as a side effect? Again talk to your primary care provider or pharmacist. If you have other questions, please let me know.
Question: I am writing on behalf of a colleague where I work in response to your request for any other skin diseases which may require further research and/or inquiry. The co-worker has experienced severely cracked hands to the point of bleeding for at least the past 5 years. The symptoms have included small round spots or patches of dry skin that appear only the the fingers and palms of both hands. Upon appearance of the dry skin areas, bleeding will occur at these sites within two weeks. Allergy tests have been completed with no allergies detected. No moisturizers over the counter or presecribed have alleviated the symptoms. Repeated visits to several dermatologists have yielded no diagnosis or treatment other than "contact dermatitis." The symptoms have a very quick onset and last approximately 2-3 weeks. Any information you could provide in possibly diagnosing, treating and/or preventing the ailment would be most appreciated. Thank you.Any disease, not just skin diseases, are of interest. That they are little known or studied is the important criteria.
Answer: Dermatology is a difficult specialty. As Joe Friday used to say at the beginning of Dragnet, "There are a million stories in the city and this is just one", so it is with dermatology, there are a million rashes and this is just one. Unless the rash fits into a particular catagory, there may not be a specific diagnosis. Biopsy is one way they try to make the diagnosis, but that can also be non-specific. Like PLEVA the treatments are pretty standard for most of these kinds of rashes, steroids, PUVA, antibiotics, etc. It is almost impossible to diagnose any rash without seeing it. One of the factors of interest with your friend's rash is that it appears on the palms of the hands among other areas. Very few rashes do that. Hand, foot and mouth disease which is caused by a virus is one. Contact dermatitises like poison ivy, for example, do not. The division between the palm a of the hand and sole of the foot is usually the stop line for rashes. This rash would seem to indicate that there is strong exposure on the palms. Your friend should look at everything her/his hands are being exposed to on a regular basis. It could be anything. Something handled at work or home, soap, detergent, lotion, something carried. etc. A couple of tips that might help: 1) use soap sparingly on hands. Friction on surfaces for at least 15 seconds under running water rmoves most germs; 2) Use a glycerin or moisturizer bar like dove so it doesn't have any added materials that may cause a problem: 3) Do not rub when drying . Pat dry so you do not remove all the fluid from the cells; 4) Better yet, use a good water based moisturizer or even something like almond or olive oils with some jojoba/lavender essential oil/tea tree essential oil/vitamin E oil or other product with few manmade additives; 5) Use your favorite product of the many above after soaking in warm water at bedtime and wear white cotton gloves to bed. These type of procedures will keep the skin moisturized and less likely to crack, be dry or open to lesions. Hope some of this helps.
Question: We are awaiting a diagnosis from a biopsy which seems to be Pleva. My 19 yr. old healthy athletic son is literally covered from chest to knees to back to buttocks and behind his knees. It started more than three weeks ago a dayafter he started with poison ivy. We have been to many doctors and a very famous teaching hospital and no one could help him. They thought it was infected poison ivy or bacterial from sweating. He can't even wear clothes comfortably and the scabs are painful and the red rash itchy. He has had many sleepless nights. He looks like he has small pox or major chicken pox. Will these all scar? Will they go away? Will there be a recurrence? We are sick over this. I have been on the internet trying to get as much info as I can with only the same results. NO REAL HOPE FOR CURE or TREATMENT. You seem to have the most info. Thanks for this. Could it have anything to do with poison ivy or is that a coincidence? Could it be from a mosquito bite or a tick? Any info will be greatly appreciated.
Answer: If it is PLEVA, there is no known cure or distinct cause. As you may notice in the information on the site, it may be caused by Herpes type 7 but I have not seen the source of this information yet. The poison ivy was not the necessarily the cause but may have been a trigger to make the eruptions occur. Since this disease is considered to be like psoriasis, any injury to skin may cause a lesion at that site. In psoriasis, an injury to the skin can become a psoriatic lesion and be the first site/sign of the problem. Treatment is according to the symptoms and usually are things like hydrocortisone, other steroids, antibiotics and PUVA or light treatments. The marks can scar like chicken pox and keeping them clean so they don't become infected, not scratching so they don't become bigger, and general good skin care helps. I have used a skin oil I developed with Lavender essential oil, Tea Tree essential oil, vitamin E and Almond oil now sold by Glory of the Garden. The reason for those is the mix is supposed to be antiseptic, antifungal, skin rejenerative, and is supposed to work on all types of skin. This has reduced my scarring alot. The sites remain darker in color for about a year, then slowly lighten out and they don't seem to tan as well, but at least they are not little depressions like the early lesions before I used the oil. There is no evidence that mosquitoes or ticks can cause the disease.
Question: Thank you for posting it but I do have one more question, not necessarily for you to post, unless you want to. But isn't it true that herpetic viruses do often recur, such as cold sores? It seems like this conclusion would be consistent with both the recurring cases and the one-time cases, as there is also always the chance that it just wouldn't come back for whatever reason. As far as whatever treatment works and doesn't work, I don't know enough to comment about whether the sometimes effective treatments are consistent also with a herpetic virus. Thank you very much for what you are doing on behalf of myself and all the others you are helping, and I am interested in your response.
Answer: Yes, this is true and thank you for pointing it out. My major concern was that you might assume the treatments would "cure" you and it would never come back. Though many cases have responded to these treatments or have disappeared after a certain amount of time, other cases have not responded to these same treatments. The disappointment and frustration is difficult to contend with if a cure was expected. This was simply a caution about the disease. I would be interested in the source of this doctor's information to post on the site. Would it be possible to ask him the reference (I presume it was a journal)? I would post the information on the site if available.
Question: {Please note my answer to this writer} I am an 18 year old male, and I have had the symptoms of PLEVA for a little over a month now. I went to one dermatologist, and then another, who referred me to a third dermatologist who is supposed to be very knowledgeable. I had my appointment with him today, and he immediately diagnosed me with PLEVA and then surprised me even more by saying the cause of it is known! He said about 8 months ago it was discovered that it is caused by a virus, herpes type 7. There is obviously no cure since it is a virus, but he prescribed me prednisone and said that should clear the symptoms completely, and if it doesn't we would try the PUVA treatment. He also said there is the chance of recurrence, but that those could also be treated in the same way. He said that it is passed through excrement (feces and urine). I still have no idea how I contracted it, but at least I have some answers now, so I am much happier. I think everyone else with the disease should know this information also, so if you could post this it would be much appreciated.
Answer: I will post your note with the caveat I am writing to you. I am not surprised to hear they have found a virus connected with PLEVA. In fact, I think there may be more than one that causes the problem. The fact that it may be an herpetic type virus explains some of the cases I have discussed with victims of the disease. Those who have one episode and never have another. Systemic symptoms when dermatologists have said there are none. However, your explaination may not explain some of the cases. One man who still has a lesion or two each spring and fall after thirty years. A woman who is still having lesions after three years that are less than the original outbreak, but still numerous. Cases where prednisone, PUVA, antibiotics and multiple other treatments have been tried and sometimes have not worked. Your treatment may stop it fast and you may never have another lesion. There have been many cases like that, but not all. Thank you for your note. It means they are looking at the problem.
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