• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Fragile Skin ??

Messages
30
Location
Canada
Do any of you have fragile skin? I know easy bruising is not unusual with CFS. What I've been getting for the last several years appears mostly on the upper side of my right arm (I'm right handed) above my wrist and up maybe 6", in that area. It's like bruising, if i barely scrape against something or bump into something I get dark red spots under the skin later and sometimes the skin seems to tear rather easily. My skin is rather dry in the same area too. When I first saw this I thot it was happening after i lifted something, like a small bag or groceries. More recently I've noticed that I'm also getting it when my arm scrapes against something no matter how lightly.

I have MCS too so not so keen to use lotions for the dry skin. A friend suggested using olive oil which I am going to try.

When looking briefly on the net I did see mentions of it with cfs/fm but had never heard of anyone else commenting about it...

TIA
Zona (cfs/fm/mcs 30 yrs)
 

judderwocky

Senior Member
Messages
328
Do any of you have fragile skin? I know easy bruising is not unusual with CFS. What I've been getting for the last several years appears mostly on the upper side of my right arm (I'm right handed) above my wrist and up maybe 6", in that area. It's like bruising, if i barely scrape against something or bump into something I get dark red spots under the skin later and sometimes the skin seems to tear rather easily. My skin is rather dry in the same area too. When I first saw this I thot it was happening after i lifted something, like a small bag or groceries. More recently I've noticed that I'm also getting it when my arm scrapes against something no matter how lightly.

I have MCS too so not so keen to use lotions for the dry skin. A friend suggested using olive oil which I am going to try.

When looking briefly on the net I did see mentions of it with cfs/fm but had never heard of anyone else commenting about it...

TIA
Zona (cfs/fm/mcs 30 yrs)

ive been taking diatomaceous earth and it has been improving the health of my skin and nails....

could it be a circulation issue?
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Hi Zona,

I have very thin skin on some parts of my body, especially my feet, and my feet are perpetually bruised (lots of small burst blood vessels). This may or may not be related. The RNaseL research put forward one possibility that shouldn't be ignored: elastase. If the skin cant stretch it will tear. The same for the underlying blood vessels.

A long time ago I think I remember reading about oils for this kind of thing. I think a mixture of oils is typically used. It could include cold pressed sunflower oil, linseed oil (but this can smell bad) or rose oil, in addition to olive oil. I know little about this, you should find some people into aromatherapy or other natural oils for advice.

Bye
Alex
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
I have this skin problem though it sounds as yours is even worse than mine.

I have found that taking massive doses of vitamin C and normal doses of vitamin K have helped with the spontaneous (and very easy) bruising. I get bruises that emanate from joints and then spread out along my limbs, which have also diminished on the C and K.
I only get those big clusters of blood blisters under the skin when something chafes against my skin, like the handle of a heavy bag or sometimes my bra strap. It doesn't happen often enough for me to know if the vits have helped this but I think it is part of the same thing.
My skin breaks out into rashes and dryness very easily from most soaps or other toiletries. I am sure this is often not an actual allergy but just the fact that my skin is so dry and sensitive.

My son who is 4 and also has CFS also has all the above problems. He is often such a mass of bruises that I worry in case anyone thinks I am not looking after him properly. Though that's probably just paranoia onmy part, as I am really a ludicrously over-protective mother!

The other weird thing that often happens to me is that I will notice part of me is bleeding (usually my hands) and I had not noticed actually cutting myself. I think it is doubly weird - first because I should be able to feel it, instead of noticing it because I have just stained something with a streak of blood, and second because I don't think it is really normal for your hands to start bleeding from a very slight brush against something that you don't even notice. I am not aware of any loss of sensation in my hands, they seem to work fine.

I have read that thinning of the epidermis to a freakishly fragile degree is a symptom of Lyme. Apparently it is worst on the back of the hands. I am getting a bit Lyme obsessed lately, but I saw it talked about in that context and I haven't read about it in the context of CFS.
 
Messages
5
Actually my cousin has the same problem but we contact to the skin expert and she got the solution. She taking treatment for that. And also the doctor has suggested a cream for her skin, I don't know its name but its result is good.
 

Dainty

Senior Member
Messages
1,751
Location
Seattle
Fragile skin is also a symptom of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, along with hypermobility and ease of bruising. Wrote a post more about it here a few hours ago. That might be something you want to look into.

I, too, have noticed how easily the miniature blood blisters appear, generally in clusters. The skin covering my peck muscles and the surrounding areas seem especially suceptable.