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Bill B: En Coup de Sabre

I am a bit concerned it may begin to encroach on my eye and I am not sure what will happen.

In May 2002, while in Seattle, I was lifting weights, laying on my back, and the weight bar hit my forehead. This did not cause any real pain or trauma at the time, but it did hit fairly hard. Within a few days I noticed a discolored area on the right side of my forehead starting at the hairline. Within two weeks the spot was fairly pronounced, about one inch wide and a couple inches long, culminating in a point on the lower end.

In July 2002, while in San Diego, I went to an ophthalmologist who came to no conclusions. He said he had not seen anything like this previously. He thought it was some sort of localized trauma that would return to normal after a few months. He said to call on him in a few months if it did not return to normal.

A year later in May 2003 and back in Seattle, the spot has not changed, but it is now white and very pronounced. It does have a few, small dark brown spots that cover about ten percent of the white spot. Also, the spot is about one and one half inches into the hairline and I have lost the hair in this area. I went to see another dermatologist who did a biopsy and diagnosed me with linear scleroderma. She invited me to a meeting of twenty or so dermatologists in Seattle. I went to the meeting, they all looked at me, and diagnosed me with the same. We began treatment using an antibiotic. I was supposed to used it for five months, based on some anecdotal evidence that this may help. I used it for two to three months with no change to the spot on my forehead and stopped treatment.

In August 2003, while in San Diego the spot has grown about twice as long, but about the same width. It is now getting near my eyebrow. I am a bit concerned it may begin to encroach on my eye and I am not sure what will happen. I went to see the original dermatologist whom I saw in May 2002. I shared with him the diagnosis from the Seattle doctor and he agreed. He placed me on a topical cream that is some sort of synthetic Vitamin D (I think).

Now it is October 2003, in San Diego and I have been using the topical for six weeks and nothing has changed yet. I am going to start researching a little bit more and see if I can steer the doctor toward a more effective treatment program.

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ISN Artist: Judy Tarro

Judy Tarro, ISN Artist, created the digital photo to illustrate the story on this page.

ISN Story Editor: Judith Thompson Devlin

Judith Thompson Devlin is the ISN Story Editor for this story. She is also lead editor of the ISN's wonderful Voices of Scleroderma book series!

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