With the onset of all my SJS symptoms came strange pigmentation issues
especially on my facial skin as well. I have unsymetric spots which are white with brown borders around them and whenever I get the smallest bit of sun exposure (with SPF 50, sunglasses and hat on and UV-proof car windows!) I get more of these medium-sized spots.
I have been to dermatologists and they claim it has "nothing to do with the Sjogren's" and that it's simply sun damage which accumulated from previous years and iis only now showing up.
This makes NO SENSE to me, as the most minute current sun exposure triggers them, this began at the exact same time as my SJS symptoms, I have spent my entire life hiding from the sun, and they don't look like normal sun pigmentation spots (white with brown borders).
Does anyone else get what I'm describing and know exactly what this is?
Did they biopsy any of them?
No, they're not interested in giving them a second look.
Just told me to buy cosmetic anti-pigmentation creams at the drugstore.
I've tried many of them and they do absolutely nothing.
yes I have them mostly on my legs and arms. I am tan, they are white spots. Flat,not raised, just no pigmentation. My dermatologists told me the same thing. Long standing sun damage....once you pass 60 stuff happens.
Mine are flat as well. Do you have dark borders around them or just regular skin?
I originally thought vitiligo, but my dermatologist claims it's not.
I'm twenty years younger than you Navigator, so I'm not buying the "sun damage" explanation.
Sharon, I don't know your age, but can say that these spots are a common occurrence as one ages. The spots do seem to appear overnight, even my husband looked at his hands one day and was lamenting the age spots he was suddenly seeing.
I'm 40...the spots are mostly loss of pigmentation as they are white. Only the borders are brownish.
This is common?
http://imgur.com/a/4wpCC
Do they look anything like that?
My husband has many white ones, mine are mostly brown. Thanks for sharing your age range. These things start younger than any of us might wish.
the white spots bec of age are white and you notice them on summer when you are tanned, its lack of pigmentation and they dont have brown borders. usually when u get those white u can have brown cheratosis and u notice them in winter
Hi bluegardenia, haven't seen you around the boards in awhile, good to hear from you!
Yes, they are from loss of pigment.
I know you gals are saying they're age and sun related but I've lived my life "underground"
and they began EXACTLY the time the SJS began and nobody else in my family has them.
alwaysimproving- YES!!! Those pics resemble what I'm experiencing the most, only the boarders on mine are more pigmented. What condition is it? Where did you get those pics from???
@Sharon - Will private message you.
EDIT: If anyone happens to be reading this now or in the future and is experiencing something similar, I believe Tinea Versicolor is worth looking into.
Sharon,
I have developed an abnormal amount of age spots and it started right before I figured out I had Sjogren's. I assumed it had much to do with the Plaquinil because I thought I read that it can cause hyper pigmentation.
All I know is that I look in the mirror and at my arms and legs and feel I have aged at least ten years! I get so discouraged. These brown spots pop out all over and I have really dry skin. Had a basal cell carcinoma removed after diagnosis and I have an appointment to look at two other suspicious spots that won't go away.
We went to Jamaica a year ago and I got my first ever spray tan. It looked awful because it really darkened all the "spots" I had developed. Otherwise it looked good.
My skin has become really wierd😱😞
Kathy
Hi Kathy, I can't blame Plaquenil or any other med since I'm not taking any,
but sun exposure definitely exacerbated the situation. Mine are mostly whitish spots with loss of pigmentation.
Doctors decided it was "melasma", but I know it's related to the SJS in some way.
I'm looking into alwaysimproving's idea that it may be tinea versicolor.
How old were you when you began getting these spots?
There are SJS patients in their 20's getting similar spots as alwaysimproving posted
so I do not really believe age is the culprit.
hi sharon, what i can tell u is that i often go to dermatologyst bec i had a cancer of the skin and i have to check my moles. nobody never told me that i have tinea versicolor but just that i has been too much in the sun ( strange eh? my vit D level was very low anyway as i wrote in the vit D thread) and my pigmentation does not work anymore, i more than sixty and many people of mu age have these spots usually on legs. next time ill go to the dermatologyst ill ask him to look at these spots with a special lense as i read . pity that for tinea versicolor seems that u should not stay much in the sun
Hi blue, pigmentation issues may definitely arise from sun exposure and accumulate as to show up
at your age. However, mine is following a peculiar pattern with new patches of pigmentation loss appearing after even 1 minute of sun exposure...This (and the timing of onset) is what leads me to believe there is something unusual going on related to the AI issue.
So I'm living like a vampire now....
Good thing I'm taking high doses of Vit. D!
I'd just like to add another possibility for a diagnosis that appears to fit:
Post-inflammatory hypopigmentation
Sharon,
I had to have a large pigmentation removed from my forearm when I was in my late 30's. It was well over the size of a 50 cent piece and very noticeable. These age spots have really come out in the last two years. I think the Plaquinil has made it worse, but I won't stop taking it because it has really helped me.
It's getting tougher for me to take a good look in the mirror and to think it is all downhill from here! Lol. 😱
Kathy
Kathy- Sounds like you have hyperpigmentation, the opposite condition of what I'm experiencing.
I've heard Plaquenil can cause pigmentation spots.
How did you get that patch "removed"?