How long do the brown spots stay?
Posted , 7 users are following.
I am a Dutch woman, age 28. I was diagnosed by my dermatologist with LP last august 2013. It started with a small spot on my lower back that itched in February. That spot stayed for a couple of months but after a few moths more spots started to show. After using soms cortisone cream that I got form the dermatologist, the spots seemed gone but when I quitted the cream the spots came back with a vengeance. They were everywhere, on my belly, butocks, back, neck, legs, feet hand and some tiny spots near my eye. They where itching like crazy, I couldn't sleep at all. Thankfully not in my mucous, scalp and mouth. Because cortisone cream seemed to make it worse and it was all over my body now, the dermatologist suggested light therapy twice a week. The UVB light cabine (for a couple of minutes, in the beginning seconds!) and after that with toar cream for 1,5 hour. The first four weeks I didn't realy noticed any diffence (exept for the itching was reducing) but after those four weeks the spots where getting more brown and flattend. After 9 weeks (last week) the nurses decided to stop the therapy because my skin was smooth again and not itching anymore. All of the spots are now inactive and light brown.
I was just wondering how long these brown spots are staying, does anyone have any expierence? I have a white skin and I was told that the spots would fade away.
I can certainly advise this Light Therapy because, it seems like a more 'natural' way than all the medicines/hormone creams/shots. And you get a really nice tan 
(not really healthy I know)
Hopefully my spots will stay away. By the way, I think they were caused by stress although I am not a stressfull person at all, I was very much in love at that time, that also causes your body to make the stresshormone cortisol.
If somebody has any questions, please contact me. I am not sure if I understand this forum completely (I'm kinda new) but I will try 
.
Best to you all!
0 likes, 17 replies
bribri28
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LittleBritt
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Marie1093 LittleBritt
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LittleBritt Marie1093
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Hi Marie,
Yes I still receive updates, but I'm happy to inform you that the LP hasn't returned!
The brown spots are all away. It took a good extra half year for the lighter parts of my body to be spotless. To be honest I was so happy the LP was gone that I didn't really mind the brown spots. The sun definitely helped I think. My skin is exactly the way it was before the LP, also not dry anymore.
Hope you are in recovering stage and your LP will also not return.
I found a study somewhere about a research where the patients who were treated with light therapy has less recurring LP than the patients who were treated with the hormone creams. So hopefully I'm also one of those lucky ones. Too bad there is not a lot of research done.
Good luck and hope you are feeling better soon!
LittleBritt
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I forgot to mention that I also gave birth to a son a year ago. During the pregnancy I was scared of the LP a little bit because of the hormones/stress, but nothing appeared. I was also very happy/surprised I didn't get any stretch marks (was expecting those because of everything my skin had been through). I'm also quite petite so not a lot of "extra skin"
sarkacz Marie1093
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Nitojen LittleBritt
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Nitojen LittleBritt
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KellySummers Nitojen
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KellySummers LittleBritt
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Hello LittleBritt,
My name is Kelly. I am a 26 year old Caucasian female from the US. I just stumbled upon your board. I wanted to ask, has your Lichen Planus returned since you posted this? Here is my story:
I have had a severe WIDESPREAD cutaneous lichen planus for 8.5 months now (it started during a stressful period). Nothing in my mouth thank goodness. It started on my upper buttocks and spread to my arms, legs, stomach, back, ankles, breasts, armpits... etc... Pretty much everywhere. I was misdiagnosed 3 times before the biopsy confirmed. I had all the typical blood work and everything came back normal (no hepatitis C). My dermatologist initially tried oral prednisone 20 mg and tapered for about a month. This didn't do much for me. Then I tried triamcinolone cream which did nothing... then clobetasol cream. The clobetasol worked well BUT I had hundreds of dots that were so widespread, I was fighting a losing battle. Also, when one lesion healed, another popped up. It was the most ridiculously itchy mess I could ever imagine. I then tried ultra violet UVB band light therapy in which I did in my dermatologists office (about 3 times a week for 1.5 minutes front and back). Sadly, this was doing nothing either. I was also eating healthy and taking garlic, turmeric, and vitamin supplements, which also did nothing. After trying so many different treatments which no success my doctor prescribed my Cyclosporin 100 mg (an inmmunosuppresent) as long as my blood was monitored to make sure my kidneys were not being too damaged. After 14 days on it my rash cleared. However, I knew not to be too excited since there was a great possibility of it coming back after I stopped. After 1 month on 100 mg, I dropped down to 75 mg per my doctors orders. After I did this, I noticed those stupid itchy dots were slowly coming back. I told this to him and he told me to go back to 100 mg. That is currently the situation I am in. I am on my third month of cyclosporin 100 mg... I am living with the fear of what will happen after I inevitably have to stop. And also, how on earth do I get rid of these horrible dark brown hyperpigmented scars everywhere? I tried smearing hydroquinone 4 % bleaching cream on them but I found this only made it look darker and more inflamed! My doctor warned me that creams and lasers do not help with LP scars which is terrifying. He made it sound like no amount of money could ever make them go away. He did mention that they will fade a bit with time. But what does time mean? 4 months? 1 year? 4 years? So ridiculous. I'm frustrated with the whole mess since have been dealing with this for almost 9 months.
Any updates, advice, and information you could give me would be amazing and highly appreciated! This annoying problem is so rare, hardly anyone has ever heard of it.
List of my meds/treatments I have tried:
1.) Prednisone 20 mg tapered (didn't work)
2.) Tumeric, garlic, and vitamin tablets and EATING HEALTHY
3.) Triamcinolone steriod cream (didn't work)
4.) Clobetasol (worked but was tedious to apply all over widespread rash and when one healed, another popped up. It was like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
5.) Light therapy (tried this concurrently with the above meds for a total of 3 months, didn't work)
6.) Finally ---> The only thing that has worked has been cyclosporin 100 mg. (I have been on this 3 months so far. But good Lord knows what will happen when I stop this)
7.) Hydroquinone 4 % prescription strength bleaching cream for the inactive hyperpigmented scars (actually made spots temporaily worse, so I stopped after about the 5th day.)
Thanks Again,
Kelly
KellySummers
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pria77001 KellySummers
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sarkacz KellySummers
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KellySummers sarkacz
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Hi Sarkacz,
There is hope for the rash going away, I'll explain. Mine started June 2017.... It started locally on my buttocks and stayed only there until August... Then it blew up all over my body, everywhere except my face (legs, arms, waist, back, stomach, feet) ! Itchy as can be. I tried light therapy, prednisone, topical triamcinolone, topical clobetasol, and eating super healthy. None worked except for clobetasol. But clobetasol was not treating the actual problem, it was just a band aid that made one dot go away, but didn’t prevent another one from popping up. I was beyond frustrated, developed depression, and it made my anxiety worse. My doctor just kept telling me we are doing the best we can do and we do not know what causes this… I didn’t believe him about him doing everything he could do… I knew there had to be something better than steroids (which was only another band-aid). I researched and researched this until I was blew in the face. I become obsessed with it. I found a drug through internet research call CYCLOSPORIN. I proposed this to him and he insisted, “we shouldn’t jump to that level yet”. I got angry and told him I couldn’t live the way I was living and that I was suffering from the itching. Cyclosporine is an immunosuppressant that is usually given to people who have had organ transplants to keep their bodies from rejecting the new organ. It essential stopped the body from attacking itself (auto-immune response), but he said they sometimes use it for skin problems as well. He agreed to put me on 100 mg Cyclosporine and the plan was to keep on that the shortest duration possible and then wean me off, slowly dropping the mgs. I started taking cyclosporine 100 mg in December… IT CLEARED THE RASH WITHIN 4 WEEKS. I was so excited. I was left with the brown hyperpigmentation spots, but I was happy the active lesions healed. After 1 month on 100 mg and this successful clearance, he dropped me to 75 mg… Unfortunately, it started coming back when we dropped). He agreed to go back to 100 mg. I stayed on 100 mg for about another 2 months and slowly started dropping again, and IT DIDN’T RETURN!! I completely was weaned off by mid April 2018 and it has not come back so far (cross my fingers, knock on wood).
However, the disappointing part is that I am still left with the brown hyperpigmentation all over my body. It has affected my self-esteem greatly. I started seeing another dermatologist after it cleared and she seems to think it will fade in the next 1 to 2 years. I’m not sure if this is true or not, only time will tell. I have been clear from the active rash for almost 6 months and the scars might have faded about 5 percent. I have to diligently wear the highest SPF sunscreen (100 SPF) daily. I live in southern California so we get a lot of sun. I was told sun and UV light will make the scars darker. I have also been using coconut oil all over my body (I hope this will help with time).
So ultimately, there is hope for the rash to clear on its own (the internet says 1-2 years) BUT cyclosporine sped this up for me. Ask your dermatologist about cyclosporine and if they agree, tell them to slowly tapper off of it. It is an immunosuppressant so the side effects are: increased vulnerability to sickness (colds and flus), fatigue, and some other side affects you can read about. In all honesty, I didn’t get sick one time on it and the only symptom I experienced was some fatigue.
I know this is very frustrating, especially as a woman. I’m 27 and one of my hobbies was modeling. This crap was definitely screwed me over there (photoshop is a good tool to take the spots away). But, I am still hopeful they will fade with time, it’s just a SLOW process and we will both have to be patient.
Feel free to message me privately on this site if you wish. I get an alert on my email every time someone messages me. I wish I had someone to talk to. This crap is rare and no one has ever heard of it! You aren’t alone.
P.S. What medications have you tried so far?
KellySummers
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sarkacz KellySummers
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Hi KellySummers, thank you very much for your answer. I didn't find out how to write you privately. My doctor refused me to prescribe even prednisone so I think that it will be the same in case of cyclosporin. I am going to visit her on Tuesday so I will try it. I think that after my treating with phototerapy everything is worse. New spots appeared after phototerapy and everything turned to brown marks all over my body. Now no new spots are on my body. I started take aloe vera gel the brown marks are flat but still the same. My back - terrible. I feel depressed these 2 days I am crying all the time. My body is so awful that I hardly believe my skin will be ever normal. Thank you very much once more.
KellySummers sarkacz
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Are there anymore active lesions on your body? If they are active, they are itchy and the color of pink and purple. If they are inactive, they will be flat brown. Them being inactive is a good thing. If there are no active lesions on you anymore, this is a good thing and means your rash is clearing. If it is indeed clearing, your doctor will probably not prescribe anything because it is showing signs of clearing on its own. When my doctor put my on Cylcosporine, all of my lesions we're active. The brown spots suck. If it is caught early enough and treated with cyclosporine early enough, this can help prevent the spots. This is why I get very angry at doctors that don't treat properly early. I'm angry at my doctor too for not suggesting cyclosporine earlier. The good news though is your rash may be burning itself out if you have no more active, itchy lesions. I pray the brown dots for myself and all of us will eventually fade a considerable amount. Time will tell.