Kidney disease causing skin/hair damage? - Kidney Disorders Message Board

writeleft · 07-17-2009, 01:06 AM

I have stage 4 Kidney disease, GFR 24. Although I am 48 years old, my skin looks worse than my 78 year old mother. It has become so delicate, and paper thin. The least little bump, and it bruises, or leaves "grandma marks", those instant red spots on the arms, that take weeks to heal.

My hair looks dead, dry and thin and damaged.

I attribute these things to my kidney disease, am I right?

Cora1003 · 07-17-2009, 07:05 AM

Most likely. Don't forget that you have a lot of waste material floating around in your system. It can't be good for any part of your body. My hair fell out a lot when I started dialysis, but then grew back.

flowergirl2day · 07-17-2009, 09:35 AM

Hi,

I have skin problems as well. My skin is darker that it has ever been, for one thing. I have dark circles under the eyes from anemia. Also, my trunk -abdominal area- is covered in red marks of various sizes. They have now started to appear on arms & legs. A few marks might be a normal part of an aging process, but mine definitely are not!!! (in my opinion). There are numerous "spider webs", mostly on the trunk and legs. Those could be from high blood pressure and unrelated. Lastly, just like last year, my forearms are showing the blood vessel patterns a few shades darker than my already darkened skin. I had skin discoloration (dark brown) on both sides of the neck last year as well. I almost forgot to mention frequent rashes. They could be from the meds though.

flowergirl

feelbad · 07-17-2009, 10:27 AM

hey flower girl. just what IS the reason for you kidney problems? have they EVER taken a good look at the possibility of liver involvment too? i am only asking because you mentioned the 'spider web" like cappillary breakage which can be indicative of some level of portal hypertension/liver involvement in some cases. tho there can be other reasons too. do ANY of the spider web areas actually also have some kind of a red dot in the middle as well or 'just" the spider web appearance only? just something that would be very helpful to know. have you ever actually had an ultrasound done on the abdominal that would just allow that more in depth 'look' into the abdominal organs like those kidneys and the liver too? they would also be able to check overall bloodflow velocity just using that doppler tool they have to do just this. i have a yearly US just for this very reason. Marcia

writeleft · 07-17-2009, 06:02 PM

Flowergirl,

After hearing of your issues, I feel as if my skin is not bad at all. How unfortunate for you.