Old scars and flares

[Kirsty2510]

Does anyone else have this strange symptom around a flare ? My old scars can become irritated , itch and some actually start to become very red and develop a rash around them?

Thought it was a coincidence but it has now happened a few times.

[lorianne]

Yep I do. I thought it was only me. It happens on my old pregnancy stretch marks, they become very red, inflamed and itchy. The itch drives me mad and I'm conscious of scarring that area in work lol. The doctor just gave me moisturiser to rub onto it.

[lorianne]

That should read scratching the area in work.

[mimcd]

This also happens to me, I was diagnosed with Sjogrens 20+ years ago and with additional Lupus 2 years ago, on top of the areas affected now, the same areas affected 2 years ago are also affected since starting with a flare 3 months ago. Was given 6 weeks of steroids and doubled plaquenil but it hasn't subsided yet! Back on long term steroids and going for rituximab in 3 weeks to see if we can kick it into touch!

[Kirsty2510]

Thanks for replying. Isn't that odd. I am going to go ask for hydrocortisone cream as itch/rash driving me nuts !

[juliemds in reply to Kirsty2510]

Please try extra virgin coconut oil instead of more pharmaceuticals. I have been suffering with this phenomenon for past few years. I started with steroids for relief but it's only a temporary fix, I wanted to know what caused the problem! So with my medical background and colleagues input...plus experimentation on myself, I came to the conclusion that it was gluten that causes this reaction in the already weakened areas on my skin, usually with more recent scars that are worse! I became vegan; I don't eat much bread or rice either, but I love bread!!! So some days I have a binge like yesterday (ate 4 bagels throughout the day) and woke up with itchy red swollen areas on my skin where small scars exists. Applied coconut oil and all's well

Cheers!