Does anyone know how helpful these can be in diagnosing?
If you have positive blood tests, you may not need biopsies done. That is what my dermy told me although your case may be different. Also he took a look at me and said that my rashes are autoimmune and could name what kind they were. I actually thought that he would be knife happy since he is actually a dermopathologist but he said there is no need to cut me. Have you seen a dermy yet?
No, I haven't seen a dermy. The rheumy was going to send me, but she said she wanted to try the hematologist first and felt that a dermy visit may not be helpful anyway.
Last year, I saw a rheumy who asked about rashes. When I told her that's not uncommon for me, she asked if anyone had did biopsies, which no one did. So now I'm wondering how helpful would that be.
I had positive tests but now the rheumy says there's no signs of Sjogren's, Lupus, or anythign that was previously suspected.
That's amazing the dermy could tell by looking. Wow! When my symptoms went into overdrive and I first started on this diagnosing adventure, a doctor I saw at a weekend clinic took one look at my rash and wondered if it was systemic. She was the one to find out something AI was going on after blood tests were done. I'm curious what kind of role exactly do biopsies help in diagnosing. It's something I'm considering pushing the doctor to do.
I have been to the dermatologist 101 times and have had several biopsy and all the doctor can do is shake his head, shrug his shoulders and prescribe new meds.
Abbasgirl, I had a biopsy done but it was to confirm vasculitis.....which looked like a rash and painful.
Vicky
In 2002 I had about the 6th episode of a rash that would come on my outer upper arms. My right arm had been bad before and I had to have antibiotic for cellulitis and other infection. However, this time my arm swelled up as big around as a log and was at least 2+ times bigger than usual. It was itchy as heck and burned and very hot to the touch. I had been to all kinds of docs and no one knew what it was.
Finally a doc referred me to a dermatopathologist and that guy knew pretty much what it was when he saw it. He biopsied it in 2 places and it came back as an autoimmune disease called Bullous Pemphigoid plus I had bacterial and fungal infection in my arm. The good thing about this whole deal is he put me on Prednisone and it was about 7 days before my son's wedding. If I had not gotten that attention I would not have been able to wear my dress as the sleeves were too tight. I lucked out.
The bad thing was that it took me another year to get diagnosed with sjogrens. If anyone has an autoimmune skin disease positively identified the docs should automatically know to start checking for other AI diseases. If they don't the patient needs to kick start them to get them on the ball. I have since had another big rash biopsied to help rule out a drug allergy. Turns out the biopsy showed it was an allergic response and not an autoimmune issue. Soooo, it is not always a waste of money to get these done. If you have a dermatopathologist be thankful. They have more education in the pathology area and are looking for and are really aware of all the diseases out there that can cause rashes. Irish ;D
Wow...interesting replies. Thanks.
Irish, thanks for mentioning the dermatopathologist. I have never heard of that field before and sounds like the way to go for thoroughness. So glad you were able to fit in that dress. What timing that break out was!
I'm ready to try anything to help diagnose this now. Even the lip biopsy...as painful as that sounds, I'm even ready for that. My appt with my primary was changed to Monday, and I'm thinking about pushing him to take a biopsy of this rash no matter what the outcome may be. It's a gamble but it can't hurt anything except my hubby's wallet. He's at his wit's end too and whatever it takes to get a diagnosis!