red lesions on breast and small nipple indentation

karenmcardle

I'm 54, my name is Karen and I am one scared girl.

My aunt had inflammatory breast cancer, and I plan to call her to talk to her of this today.

I have morphea.  Morphea is a form of scleroderma that affects the skin.  I note that because I wonder if that coudln't be what is happening.

Before Christmas I woke up one morning with three large lesions on my breast.  My husband and I went immediately to the gyno.

The one under my breast was yeast and a bit of Zeaborb powder took care of that right away.  They gyno said he thought the other two lesions were yeast as well.  I treated for a week as I did the lesion below the breast and no change.

I begin getting scared.  The lesions were 2.5 inches long, along the side of the breast, under the arm, where your bra would rub...and pink/red.  Raised a bit.  I decided to get my head out of fear and try to treat them with a very strong cortesteroid I use for morphea, morphea presents as red raised lesions (but holy cow never that big).  Over the course of the last 3 days...the lesions have all but gone.  Faint pink, but still evident.  Morphea is hard to get under control once it starts.  In my head I think  they might be morphea....that is until yesterday.

Yesterday I wake up and  my husband notices my areola has a small indent in it.  I thought I likely slept on the sheets and they had left the mark.  I thought little else of it.

This morning I wake up, and now because I am obsessed with that breast I look again.  Indent!!!!

ONLY when I raise my arm, but there is absolutely and indent in the nipple.  The other areola has no such incent.

I am reluctant to go to my gyno for this as he has never seen inflammatory breast cancer.  I have an appt with a dermatologist for Friday, let me rephrase that...a nurse practitioner with the ok to do biopsies.

I don't know what to think or do.  Do I call the gyno and insist on seeing a breast surgeon?  Do I just go with this nurse practitioner?

I am just scared.  I want this addressed pronto!

karenmcardle

Bon, I have no problem at all talking about my morphea (scleroderma). 

I'm a walking autoimmune mess.  Crohns, Lichen Sclerosus, Morphea, Vitiligo and Scleroderma.  My form of Scleroderma is called Morphea.  Scleroderma is quite rare and Morphea is a very rare form of Scleroderma.

What morphea does is ... well, your body produces excess collegen and it comes through the layers of dermis and forms a violet or red lesion with a lighter center.  It usually takes about 7 years for the lesion to burn out and when it does it leaves a brownish or puce scar that looks to me like a burn scar.  When the lesion is active it will come up and itch like the devil, and then the center that is lighter will turn white and be like parchment paper.  Anything can break it open and it bleeds like mad.

My immunodermatologist had me come in on my last episode of morphea (21 lesions on my back) and each month he injected each lesion with kenalog (cortesteroid) which helped them burn out faster.

The lesions on my breast ... whatever they were, and I now believe them to be morphea subsided with the use of strong cortesteroids.  Clobetesol is 600x the over the counter strength of cortesoid ointment.  Triamcinalone is stronger too, but not as strong as clobetesol.  I also use immunosupressors such a protopic or eladil.

The lichen sclerosus is on my vulva and anal area.  It acts much like the morphea but there.  You can actually scar to the point of losing your inner labia, and having your vaginal opening shrink to the point that it is hard to urinate.  I am a zealot with  my meds, however, which has helped to keep this from happening.  The awful issue here is that one of the ointments/creams used to handle this is ESTRACE, which is an estrogen.  With  my family history of breast cancers, this frightens me...but I have to decide between two evils.  The pain of lichen sclerosus means I have chosen to go with the estrace.

Now on to "the girls."  I see a skin doc on Friday.  The lesions have all but faded away with the meds, however, I still have a warm feeling near where the nipple "indent" is so I am going to press on with this.  My husband thinks it is just something that happens because of architecture (how I am made) as we have discovered the indent is only there when I lift my arms.  Still and all, better safe than sorry ALWAYS!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

karenmcardle

Bonnie,

I'm glad to be of any help I can. 

This morning, I am scared.  I have a burning pain near the chest wall that seems to move, if that makes any sense at all.  My breast feels heavy yet looks the same.

The lesions that went with the steroid treatment are starting to show up again and I tell myself that the morphea could do this, but it still frightens me.

I went back to the ob gyn last week and he did yet another "mash around on my breast" breast exam, looked at my indent on the nipple and explained that sometimes women with very dense (that would be me) breast tissue, as they age and the tissue changes there are times that a place may change before another causing a dimple like that.  Jim (husband) was in with me and asked why the pain.  Dr. says pain is because of my fibrous, dense breast tissue. 

BUT, this is in ONE breast...not both.  Lesions on one breast.  Nipple pain and itching in one breast. 

I am very tuned in to my body.  With Crohns, Lichen, Morphea, hyperparathyroidism and possible connective tissue disease (being diagnosed for that right now, ANA patterns and muscle pain are what we're dealing with)...I HAVE TO!

I listen when my body talks to me.  I just don't want to be one of those that waited because they didn't want to appear overcautious.  I want to be one that persevered (if that is what is called for) because my body is telling me LOUDLY that something is not right.

It may be an infection of sorts...it may be the morphea making it feel crappy...but something is wrong.

I woke this morning to a deep chest burning whenever I tried sitting up in bed.  Being me, I lay right back down and tried it 20 more times just to note specifically where the pain is and if it moves, there is a lump (all that).

I have an appt with the breast surgeon on the 22nd, per my gynos recommendation.  I'm going to pursue this further today and call to check for any cancellations.  I will do that every day this week.

Scared is no way to go through life. 

karenmcardle

It is odd, the more I read the more scared I get and yet the more informed I feel.

I see the breast surgeon tomorrow.  I begin to wonder if the red lesions didn't go away from my steroids (thinking it was my sclero) but that it might be just the way of this. 

My breast burns and is tender all the time.  The nipple hurting is continual.  It doesn't feel hotter than the other breast it just feels like it is burning within. 

When I am very scared I go to a place that isn't so pretty.  I've had shin and forearm bone pain for 5 months.  Every test imaginable except for a scan of the bones.  I was told it was likely parathyroid as my calcium levels are just a titch over the norm, they did a scan and found nothing wrong with the parathyroid.  Now I am just...going to say it.  I am afraid I have IBC which has caused bone cancer.  Only in those moments at 3 a.m. when I wake up with a hurting breast that makes my head to crazy.  But it happens.

I cannot wait for this appointment.  I hate feeling like this.