Thalassemia Patients and Friends
Discussion Forums => Thalassemia Major => Topic started by: jocy on August 04, 2010, 09:23:10 PM
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Hello I'm so glad to have found this forum i'm 29 and have been recieving tranfusions and chelation for 26 yrs i have been through many diffrent dr's since i turned 18 because of insurance drama all doing things a bit diffrent, my main concern now is my skin color it's verry dark i'm hispanic and have always been a lighter brown. My problem areas are the one's more exposed to the sun face hand and feet. I feel like it's not just sun exposure even my dr and everyone that knows me tell me i look diffrent too dark and in my hands u can see dark spots i'm just worried ??? does anyone have any advise. thanks
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Hi Jocy and :welcome2
How high is your ferritin level? If your iron is high, it will change your skin color. Are you compliant with a good chelation program? If your fingers get darker closer to the nails, it is most likely iron.
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Hi Jocy,
As Andy said,iron can darken your skin,and once you lower your iron ,you'll see a noticeable change in your skin color.
Zaini.
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Hello!!!
It is my own case and it is because of the iron level. In my case it is more severe in my face, hands, elbows, knees and feet.
I asked to a couple of doctors and both of them tell me the same.
My ferritine is now around 1800 but it reached 6500 in 2002.
Kisses,
Laura.
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Hi Jocy ,
i agree to wat all , and dark skin colour is probably bcoze of ferritin .. when my ferritin was around 13000 i my sking was a mixture of green, yellow, grey and black colour . but now when my ferritin is within 500 my colour is fairly white .. even people noticed that change and informed me abt it ... recently i met to someone after an year and he said me that my colour is changed enough ....
i hope this wil b helpful
Best Regards
Take Care
Umair
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hi
surely high ferritin can have effect on your skin color so as all say if you wanna change that u must be serious on your chelation program after that u can prospect change in your color
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Hi All,
Sorry for writing in this thread. I don't want to start a new thread since this is what I wanted to ask too.
I was wondering since I had a few patches of dark patches on my body after the "stupid" inferon injection is it due to iron as well? It was quite obvious during my first pregnancy over the patch where they stick down the needles and other part of the body as well. It was quite unsightly at first but the colour had faded over time but is still there. Does it go away?
Thanks.
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Yes, this is a known problem with iron injections. Leakage can occur into the subcutaneous tissue producing long-standing skin discoloration. Iron overload in thals is seen with darkened skin coloration, as iron deposits give the skin a dark somewhat bronze tone. Chelation will clear this up, and we have noted often that IP6 will also clear up skin, although I don't know what effect it might have on a concentrated discoloration. One thing I ran into while searching was that vitamin C serums can lighten skin. This makes some sense since vitamin C binds with iron. Products containing vitamin C serum can easily be found online and probably at makeup counters in stores.
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Thanks Andy.
Will try to look for the product you suggested.