dark kneecaps/elbows/knuckles

[gila]

"Shouldn't this be in Related Conditions? "
(tut... I still cant do 'proper' quoting...tut)

I thought about that... but went for 'misc' as it isnt really a 'condition' (as in it doesnt cause any probs as such... apart from being made to scrub offending bits extra hard by well meaning parents )- it's more that it's a poss sign for something poss being "off"=so a poss indicator/supporting factor re dx...

and it ISNT afaik an established fact or widely supported theory- I've only seen this on dr.bravo's site...
oh...and in case anyone else suffers from "name prejudice" as in " dr. bravo... that sounds 'quack ish" like I did when I first heard about his site... shame on me...

afaik prof g and b are in communicado with dr b-

so I also do wonder... anyone know if they are gathering 'empirical data' to see if this "more frequently/only" occurs in connective tissue disordered peops= could be an indication?
xxg

ps: just 'thought' (watch out lol)... I also have this on the 'knuckles' of my toes...and on there the skin also gets quite hard... and I often feel my toe knuckles are rubbing on shoes cause my toes do this gripping=curling up motion whilst walking... (I know it's unnecessary and unhelpful but I just cant stop it)
and burns and carpet burns also leave darkened skin marks on me for v long...

so maybe the discolouration of our prominent/ often leaned on=rubbed bits are due to our skins reaction to
what could be termed "long term low level" friction burn????

[hannah]

interesting theory gila - I get the same on my toes too, again from rubbing toes on shoes cos I 'grip' the floor in the hope that it won't throw me off

Like someone else on this thread I thought my knees just caught the sun more easily cos they stuck out!

[Stone]

ps: just 'thought' (watch out lol)... I also have this on the 'knuckles' of my toes...and on there the skin also gets quite hard... and I often feel my toe knuckles are rubbing on shoes cause my toes do this gripping=curling up motion whilst walking... (I know it's unnecessary and unhelpful but I just cant stop it)
and burns and carpet burns also leave darkened skin marks on me for v long...

I grip the floor too...not much help in stabilising dodgy ankles though!

Very interesting about your toe knuckles, I had exactly the same thing while on bleomycin. One of the well-known bleomycin side-effects is that it makes skin overproduce melanin when damaged (and it makes you itch from the inside, so you end up all stripey where you scratched!) so maybe it just heightened my body's normal reaction? The skin on my toes went really weird and thick as well as extremely brown in a 'bar' across the top, then peeled off in one big lump leaving really bright pink skin underneath - most odd.

I should add my toes are nornally very hairy on that bit (my gf says it's cos I'm a hobbit! ) so maybe they'd normally do that if the hair didn't protect them? Obviously the hair had fallen out when I was on the chemo so that might have something to do with it too...

Food for thought!

Stone

[Hayley]

Yes, I often see my arms in the mirror and think I have a bruised elbow - in fact I only said to Greg 2 days ago "Have I got a bruise on my elbow?" Now I know what it is!!

Hayley

[barkingmad]

I can see Stone is touting for a moderators job!

I have that too Gila and so does my middle son and mum, but we are pretty olive coloured, daughter who is very fair doesnt seem to have such a noticeable change in skin colour.

I used to scrub both me and middle son, until I realised it wouldnt come off! And like Hayley used to think that I had bruised elbows!

[gila]

barking- according to wikipedia 'hyperpigmentation' occurs more frequently in darker skinned peops
(stone's experience with the chemo chemicals made me google...)
xxg

[Stone]

I can see Stone is touting for a moderators job!

I never!

I can only see extra dark bits on one of my elbows, the other has a big scar on from being clumsy with a hot air gun

Stone

[Stone]

whats a hot air gun?

Exactly what it says - a handheld gun that shoots hot air (at a couple of hundred degrees). It's like a turbo hairdryer I was using it to melt the glue holding down some old vinyl floor tiles, put it to one side for a moment while pulling on the tiles and then forgot and leaned on it. Sizzle

Stone

[Stone]

Yeah, I did a bit of a sweary war dance

[Sarah-Mary]

Oh dear. My heat gun has been relegated to the back of a cupboard as I don't trust myself to use it any more!

Getting back on topic...I had my elbows scrubbed with a wire soap pad (the kind you use on pots and pans) and stuck in lemon juice when I was younger by a well-meaning mother who thought it was years of ingrained dirt. Hm...I should show her this

[Pol]

After looking atthe pics I now see my daughter has elbows and knees like that. She is starting to complain of pains in her joints. Looks like she also has HMS

[shah]

I tried to search for thi but couldn't find anything so sorry if I missed it, but I have started to get hard, elephant type skin patches appear on my knees, elbows, hands etc, it is brown and dry no matter what I put on it, I am very pale and always use sun screen, also I suffer Reynaulds so am always covered up shivering so I don't feel it is sun damage and neither does my GP but they are unsure, my mum has the same happen to her, I have tried hyper pigmentation creams and no joy, any advice or answers??

Thanks

[gila]

Hi shah!
could you get to see a dermatologist? they tend to have some idea about HMS/EDS and what it can do to skin- and it would be good to be sure it's nothing else...

that said... do you kneel often? lean a lot on your elbows? do a lot with your hands and fabric for example?- these sorts of 'activity' ( ) can cause quite a bit of friction (or even friction burns) - and our skin often being thinner, more sensitive to 'normal use' and us producing faulty collagen- it seems this friction and ensuing 'healing' can lead to brown hard elephantlike skin patches-
hidden in some old thread, which I cant find either atm, there are some posts re "dirty brown looking knees/elbows" that many of us had as kids (when you do more friction causing activities)/still get at times-
I mainly still get them on my toes from rubbing toes on top of shoes whilst walking-

also are you wearing tight clothing ? I could imagine that that (especially if tight but not stretchy) could poss cause too much friction...

sorry not really an answer, nor v much help... just some thoughts...
xxg

[Stone]

hidden in some old thread, which I cant find either atm, there are some posts re "dirty brown looking knees/elbows" that many of us had as kids (when you do more friction causing activities)/still get at times-
I mainly still get them on my toes from rubbing toes on top of shoes whilst walking-

Gila, it was your thread, silly! linky

Stone
mod edit - threads merged now

[AnnaH]

I've got really baggy elbows and really baggy knees. It looks like my skin is a couple of sizes too big! I also have the dark knuckles, knees and elbows. Interesting. I didn't know that was HMS too.