Who has Acrodermatitis chronica atrophica (ACA) ....

.....and could tell me more about it ???

I got it with Lyme and would like to hear from others who may have it too; did it get better with abx?? Did you already know you had Lyme before the skin was affected??

dorit

hi dowa,

YES, it is caused by lyme;

at the end, the skin gets very "thin", like parchment, you sometimes see the small blood vessels shinig through the skin which can give this areas a "bluish gleam";
the most / well- known form and location is on the fingers - it`s calles "madonna - fingers" at least here in europe, but you can have it everywhere, and it looks like a dermatitis;

that was the way they found out I have Lyme...... a dermatologist found several parts of my skin looking "strange"....I always thought this was Neurodermitis or came along with allergies I have; the doc asked my how I felt during the last time, maybe years, if I felt sick, was tired, had health problems which could not be explained ...I said yes,.. we made a test (elisa / westernblod) and I came out positive....


I have a link with pictures, I will try to find this link and post it immediatelly...

thanks for your posting!!!
dorit

Dorit,

I think that I have it and was planning on showing my dermatologist and LLMD the different areas of my body that have vasculitis to the point that it looks like bruises, lots of shiny skin and red areas on body, loss of muscles - well I look like those pictures. I have suspected it for a while. I have been tested for sclera derma, in fact a complete rheumatological workup was done. In general dermatologists in the US don't have a clue - they just look at my poor red skin and prescribe a cream. I believe European dermatologists are more familiar with it.

I have late stage lyme. I also did a lot of traveling in Europe and Africa so I could have been exposed there as well as here in the northeast where Lyme is endemic and epidemic.

I see LLMD in early December so I will let you know.
Your life sounds very exciting and interesting I absolutely love England, Europe, and Africa (of course not all parts and what is going on now is very worrisome.) It is a shame because Rwanda and Uganda were so beautiful, as well as Kenya. Morroco was mysterious.

Take care, I am sure you must be worried. What is your plan for treatment? What is the prognosis?
Keep us informed.

bcaring

Hi bcaring and Chris L,

thanks for your postings! sad to hear you may have it too, but glad to found you to exchange experience !!!

I have a testing for co- infections next week; the appointment with the lyme doc will be in January; it is not easy to make everything around lyme be done quickly. I am very happy that my dermatologist takes lyme serious!

I found different information around aca: some say, this is one of the chronic stages of lyme where the skin is affected too and it will not disappear, some say it gets much better, sometimes even disappears over time after abx; some info say if you get aca in the last stage of lyme, you normally don`t end up with neuroborreliosis; ....... I don`t know what to think about all these information.

I do not even know (maybe like you, bcaring) from where i brought this home: from our garden here or from elsewhere.... even this could make a difference as far as bands and westernblots and tests are concerned - I was told!

I keep you informed about this and what the lyme doc will tell me; after the appontment with him I will go and see my dermatologist again; she is very cooperative and open to help.

Would you like to keep me informed how this is developing with you? could be a great help!

Take care!!
dorit

Hi bcaring,

my dermatologist ist willing to start treatment at any time; our "plan" is to wait for the coinfection results; I cannot take penicilin and i had serious problems with other abx, so I am somehow happy not to start too many experiments before I know if there is something else besides lyme and then we will choose the med/ ab combination;

At the moment I am on vit c and b, also tees: Artemisia abrotanum and Dipsacus fullonum; also Sinapis nigri (seeds) and healing earth for detoxing.

Are you on antibiotics at the moment?

Take care,
dorit