Thinning skin due to Prednisone

Can't hurt to have a go at the fish oil and flax seed.  The other stuff I already use.  

Somewhere in this site, I read a post that suggested a couple of things (of course I can't find it now!) one of which was horsetail oil---and something I've never heard of, nor can I imagine what kind of oil can be had from a horsetail---unless its just a creative name for something.  I will research it.  

horsetail is a plant!  

I have always called it Mare's Tail. It is one of the most pernicious weeds I have ever come across.

It always fascinated me as a child, it has such an interesting structure.  I didn't know its name so called it breakjoint.  It seems to have been used as a medicinal plant, including for osteoporosis!

It has all sorts of medicinal possibilities going back to the Greeks and Romans. It is supposed to prevent some kinds of cancer, help hair care, cure diabetes, help fluid retention, and a host of other things. 

Love it!!!  That may well be my "fall-back".  On the other hand, that just might be the remedy for a few other things.  LOL

Skin thinning/bruising is par for the course unfortunately whilst on steroids.  There is no "cure" as such but there are some things that can help until you get to the lower steroid doses when this side effect will resolve.  Meanwhile, we have to help ourselves, and for anyone here in the UK there is a very effective moisturiser called Doublebase Gel.  There must be something similar overseas.  Moisturising is vital to help prevent the skin from drying, thereby leding to easy gashes.  For the easy bruising, Arnica Cream can help and I got through oodles of it.  I also avoided the daily shower in favour of a few more top and tail washes.  And never use perfumed soaps - in fact, if the skin is that bad, Doublebase gel and the like can be used as an actual shower wash, just rinsing it off afterwards.  I hope some of this helps but please be reassured that your skin will return to normal  as you get to the lower doses heading towards remission - mine did.

Meant to add, if you do use DoubleBase Gel or similar in the shower, be sure to use a rubber mat as the shower base will be very slippery.

that is funny.. I blame my wife... then my dog for my bloody marks on my arms...

Your post was the reassurance I so needed. Thank you. I am down to 5mg Prednisolone now. But my skin is so lined after three years on 15mg. It is very demoralising. I am 68 and wonder if my skin will thicken up as your's has. How long did your's take to recover please?

I have bit used soap on my body in years.  I only use shower gel.  My arms and legs are the parts where my skin is really bad, mostly my arms.  Fortunately my face has shown no effects at all.  I live in a very dry climate with lots of sun.  I walk everyday, anld when it is warm, I wear long shorts. The sun may also be a contributing factor for me.  I would think in England where there is higher humidity it might not be as bad.  I hate to add that age probalby has something to do with this too.  I am curiouls to know if the double gel moisturizer feels greasy????   If it does, I might only use it at bedtime.  I had one cream that was a petroleum base and I just couldn't handle that in the daytime.  Thanks, Donna

By soap I mean anything used for cleaning skin that makes a foam. Shower gel is just liquid soap. They still strip the natural oils from the skin and the external humidity doesn't really make much difference to that! I can't really tell you much about the Doublebase - I use it about once a year and in small quantities! You use it after a shower while the skin is still damp to keep the moisture in - everyone I know who uses it swears by it. 

I don't live in the UK - I also live in a very dry climate, weeks and weeks with a humidity of 20% or lower is not unusual summer or winter. 

I remember now that you are not in the UK.  I have always heard that putting any moisturizer on the skin should be done while it is still damp.  The main reason I switched to shower get forty years ago was that it leaves no soap film on the shower, thus the shower is easier to clean.  Ha Ha  I was not thinking of my skin back then.  Well, I think that a lot of this is trial and error for all of us, and I stand by the part that I said about the age of our skin.  Mine is much older than a lot of you.  :-)  Have a lovely Sunday.  Donna

And one of the downsides of pred is that it does speed the aging process...

Double Base Gel, disappears as you put in on.

Age 79 and counting......................

I think a lot of this depends upon the person.  I think a very positive attitude has a lot fo do with gettting through all of this.  I refuse to just buy into all of it.  I still walk 5 miels a day, I eat right, keep very active, and just try to look at the glass as half full, not half empty.  I thimk that hope is what keeps us all going.  Without hope, we tend to fall into a trap.  There are many who say that prednisone causes weight gain.  I have a friend who did gain weight on prednisone, but she laughed and said it made her hungry all the time, thus she put more gas in her tank than she could use in a day - result, weight gain.  I am just going to keep pouring on moisturizers.  I do know that our skin cells, and all of our body cells are always regenerating.  That is one of the miracles of the human body.  I think the person who posted on here that he was told by his doctor that once off prednisone that the skin would get better.  I do think this is possible.  I think we need to do all that we can to combat what prednisone does to us, but we also need to go on with our lives without always thinking that PMR has doomed us forever.  I just refuse to think that way.  That is one reason I am not on here a lot.  Oh, I just looked up the ingredients in the shower gel that I use and feel pretty good about it. I think it cannot simply be liquid soap since it leaves my shower shiny with absolutely no film to have to scrub off.   I actually made my husband change to shower gel, or else I wanted him to clean the shower.  Ha Ha  He was blown away by how the shower and glass door stayed clean.  This is probalby one reason that many hotels and cruise ships provide shower get.  

I agree it depends on the person. And their age and their other illnesses.

A short time spent on a vasculitis or lupus forum makes you realise that PMR is really not the end of the world for most people. It doesn't kill. But there are people who have a more complex medical problem and who truly struggle with both GCA/PMR and pred.  I also do have to say - 13 years of PMR is a bit of a pain!!!!!

Yes, 13 years would be bit much.  I am also on another site via Facebook for the eye disease that I have.  The one thing I find on there, is that everyone is cheefrul.  I checked it out everyday and comment freuqently.  Basically we joke about how many times we have fallen over the dishwasher door when it is down.  We don't see things that eveyrone else does.  Basically we are all going blind, however at different rates.  I have had this eye disease for 46 years, so I have been quite blessed that I still have a little bit of central vision.  We are all very different, but I have learned in my long battle with this declining vision that the sun still comes up each day, I still have family and friends who love me, life is still pretty darned good.  I am happy each day that I am still on the top side of the grass.  I do not like PMR, but there are many things that are much worse.  I would like to get off of prednsone for sure.  I am down to 5 mg from 20 mg beginning a bit over a year ago.  We all just need to put one foot in front of the other.  Well, for me, I need to remind myself to look before I put that one foot in front of the other.  LOL  As I mentioned before HOPE is the key.  For those of us who are going blind, we still have that HOPE for a cure.  So, I am still feeling that there is HOPE that my skin will recover.  In the meantime I shall take good care of it.  :-)

The skin on my arms looks like crepe paper. Will that change when I come off steroids?

No idea Silver - I'm developing that too. Not impressed!

PS - losing weight also seems to make it worse...

Oh, no. So weight on or weight off it's there. I could wrap presents in it but it's not very colourful.