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Lida: Morphea Scleroderma

Colombia, South America

Parakeets by Shelley EnszThis pathology presented itself when I was five years old. It began like a textbook example, with a lesion with reddish edges that for a year was treated as a fungal infection, and I was prescribed antibiotics.

I was diagnosed when I was seven or eight years old, after a series of specialists and a biopsy. That was my worst childhood memory, particularly since I was old enough to understand that doctors were baffled by my illness. Furthermore, I found older people with other types of dermal pathologies which disfigured the face.

Also, when I became a patient, doctors looked at me like a weird case, and they did not allow my father to be present during the biopsy. While my parents could they took me to dermatologists, witch doctors and miraculous priests.

I experience morphea in my abdomen, where it left a hyperpigmented area. I also have it on the inside of my right leg, but it has not affected either muscle or fat tissue, it looks like a mole. I was always treated with vitamin E and some topical treatments, but I did not get any better.

The prognosis of the doctors back then was that I would age prematurely and that the illness would reappear by age 30. After I turned 12 I did not want to return to the specialist. I still took vitamin E because my parents forced me to. The skin where the lesions are located was hardened, around my abdomen. Where the hyperpigmented area is, I do not have muscle or fat tissue. Also, when I make a movement that requires the muscle to work in that area, I can really feel the movement, unless I begin warming up the muscle.

I have observed that since I was thirteen I have varicose veins and I find hematomas on a regular basis. A dermatologist told me it was due to the lowering of collagen. In any case, I am now twenty-six years old. I have gone back to the dermatologist, but I have hit a wall. My insurance does not cover the specialist, because the general practitioner considers specialists unnecessary as this is a pathology which does not affect my systemic health.

I went to the specialist on my own cost, because I have a million doubts, and he stated that there was no treatment, adding that I should be grateful that my face had not been affected! I would like to find answers to my queries. Can I apply or take collagen? Is there a problem during gestation, taking into account that both muscle and skin have lost elasticity? Is there research done in Colombia? I would like to take part in it, if possible. What about early aging? What can I do? Is there a specialist in Colombia who can help me? If someone can help me I will be very grateful.

To Contact the Author

Lida
Email: [email protected]
Story edited 05-19-11 SLE

Story Artist: Shelley Ensz
Story Translator: Alba León
LINKS
Español/Spanish:
Lida: Morfea
Acerca de la Esclerodermia
Asociación Colombiana de Esclerodermia

English:
Juvenile Scleroderma
Juvenile Scleroderma Stories
Morphea Scleroderma
Morphea Stories
Medical: Diseases and Symptoms
Scleroderma Experts (Worldwide)
Sclero Forums
Symptoms of Systemic Scleroderma
Types of Scleroderma
What is Scleroderma?

ISN Translator and Editor: Alba León

Alba LeonAlba León is the ISN Translator for this page. She is studying international relations in Mexico City.

Go to Lidia: Scleroderma
 

SCLERO.ORG was the world's leading nonprofit for trustworthy research, support, education and awareness for scleroderma and related illnesses from 1998 to 2021. It was a grassroots movement from the original Scleroderma from A to Z web site, which was founded by Shelley Ensz. We were a 501(c)(3) U.S.-based public charitable foundation. We closed this web site and our nonprofit agency in April 2021.

International Scleroderma Network (ISN)