does anyone know how to get rid of moon face from predisone??

I was on steroids for a few months and I have a terrible moon face and I can not stand it!! How long does it take to go away and can I speed up the process in any way?!

I am someone who takes a lot of pride in her appearance and this is driving me nuts. I have a oval face so seeing this chipmunk face in the mirror makes me wana cry. I dont even want to leave the house in case I run into someone I know. My doctor said that I look like a umpa lumpa :'(

It will go away, I know how much i hated it too( and the mustache). I remember my cousin laughing at me cause I looked so funny, which I thought was very rude. I don't remember how long it took to go away. I have an oval face also and while I had the moon face one guy actually said he liked the big cheeks, but I think maybe he was being nice. Oh yeah, my boyfriend dumped me because of my appearance, I almost forgot about that. It's funny how everyone remembers that as the time I was sick. I don't bother to explain I'm still sick just not taking prednisone right now.

Oh JP...my boyfriend at the time dumped me too....he just couldn't handle it, he said..I went from being in my prime at 25 to having pretty much everything go wacky on my body, my immune system was going crazy and he didn't even stick around to see the worst of it! That may have been a good thing for me:) oh well have a terrific guy now...so in your face!

Pugpuppy,

That would've made me mad,too. I hope the side effects pass soon and you feel better.

Dani,


i hope you feel better, too. This stuff will pass.

Dani,

Moon face, pred belly, camel hump are all the result of prednisone changing where you store fat.  All are harmless and as you taper down or get off pred the effect goes away but it can take time.  It is a small price to pay for the beneficial effect of controlling your immune system.

It will go away in time and there is nothing you can do to speed it up that I know about.  It took several months for mine to go away once I hit about 15mg daily.

Bill

A buffalo hump is Accumulation of fat on the back of the neck!!

Nothing really works but time, but here are some things that might help

- drink plenty of water everyday
- some sort of exercise everyday, even if it's just a 5 minute walk
- stay away from "white" carbs - breads, cakes, potatoes chips,
stick with vegetables instead

Mine wasn't all that bad, but did improve after I slowly weaned from 20 mg/daily to about 4mg daily -- taking about a month per mg drop.

Wow, about the buffalo hump, I thought I had fluid or something building up in my back and shoulders... didn't know it was fat but that makes sense. I did gain about 40 or 50 pounds(can't remember for sure) but I do remember it hurt and was hard to move my shoulders and neck--and leg cramps one night that made me cry. I was taking 60mg a day at my highest dose and I took the pred for about 6 or 7 months. It's hard to remember, that was 11 years ago.

pugpuppy, i already said this but I'm glad your down to a lower dose and I hope you do ok on it, too.

Prednisone will change where you store fat in your body.  It will concentrate it in your belly, face and neck/back.  Everyone is a little different but I had a moon face and prednisone belly.  The moon face went away on its' own when my dosage was reduced from 60 to 20mg but it took several months.  The belly took a lot longer and was more a result of working out.  I am pushing 70 so losing belly fat is not particularly easy but it can be done.

This redistribution of fat is one of the more cosmetic side effects of pred but not one of the more serious or even life threatening ones that does happen occasionally.  The only serious effect I had was hypertension which started after about 10 months on pred....I am still fighting that 5 years later.  That is something to worry about not a moon face.

One of my granddaugthers (14) has ulcerative colitis and gets a very round moon face when she has to take pred.  At that age it is not fun but she has learned to cope with it pretty well and understands that pred saved her life and is keeping her awful disease in check when necessary.  Fortunately, she takes something else for a maintenance med.  We all need to remember the awful power and consequences of an unchecked case of lupus and having a cosmetic side effect is a small price to pay for good health...particularly since it is only transitory.

Bill

Just to share my story.

My wife was diagnosed with APS in Oct when she got stroke and pulmonary embolism. Doctor(rheumatologist) gave her very high dose of steroid like 1g/day to keep my wife alive as her condition is critical. After that, they gave her IVIG for 5 days in total 2g/kg. After discharged from hospital, my wife is taking 40mg predisolone, 200mg plaquenil, 1000mg cellcept, 3mg warfarin, 75mg plavix daily. After 5 weeks, now my wife is taking 7.5mg predisolone, 400mg plaquenil, 2000mg cellcept, 4.5mg warfarin and 75mg plavix daily. Cellcept is for steroid sparing. At the end, we want to get rid of predisolone and stay with cellcept alone though cellcept is very expensive and some claim might cause skin cancer but doctor claim it has no side effect. But I don't understand why doctor prescribe plaquenil, according to him, it will help my wife to get full remission. I hope he is right. My wife condition is very good now with no pains or serious fatigue. She can walk, talk, cook but her hand still feel numb due to the stroke. I pray she will not get another flare up. We bet on 1g/day steroid and very expensive IVIG, they saved her. We bet on cellcept now. Hopefully in few years time doctor will find a way to completely cure my wife.

All these happens in 2 months time and I have spent more than my annual income in 2 months. I am thinking to buy insurance for myself as my wife quit her job now and I am the only bread maker now.

So glad I found this forum. I'm so upset with my moon face from months on prednisone. I a tapering off & down to 7.5mg per day. I feel awful & even my sinuses & nose are swollen & feel like they will close off at times. Especially hard to breath at night.
I hope you are all right about it going away. I hate looking in the mirror!
Thanks all for your input.

Thanks Bill. It's hard to believe it will go away but I appreciate the encouragement. It really means a lot.