I am 60 yrs old and I have a 28 year old pouch constructed due to severe UC and colon/rectal cancer. For the past 10 years I have also had (which is being monitored & shows no changes) an approx 3X3 cm pelvic mass/fistula/walled off peforation?, probably the result of difficult adhesion take down during hysterectomy. Needle aspiration revealed "many white blood cells,scant ecoli, gram positive cocci pairs moderate, gram negative bacillus,few". Extra intestinal manifestations I have had were a bout with erythema nodosum when I was 18 and a not very severe but a long course of pyoderma gangrenosum on my lower leg about 5 years ago. It took almost a year to completely cure it (prednision and protopic were the meds I was prescribed.) Between the colitis and the latter skin related issues I obviously have auto-immune issues. The years of illness, meds, and the aging process itself have taken a big toll on my face/complexion and now that my son's wedding is rapidly approaching and a few strangers (including my new GI Dr.)have mistakenly referred to me as my husband's mother(OMG!), I feel I need to do something about it NOW. I already get Botox around the forhead w/no issues but I am contemplating juvederm injections and am concerned about a negative autoimmune response including Pyoderma recurrance or something more systemic. Juvederm is mostly hyaluronic acid, a substance usually found in the body and once injected it is eventually absorbed by the body. Article I read states the potential risk of immune system reactions that can result in granulomas, & that juvederm shouldnt be used in those with allergies to bacterial proteins. There is an antidote called hyaluronidase if too much is injected. Is this stuff safe for someone like us/me? Once it is absorbed into my body could it travel to that pelvic mass and cause problems? Another alternative are non-ablative lasers which tighten your skin & stimulate the production of your own collegan; no down time or irritation. I think I read somewhere that playing around with ur collagan is not good for auto-immune disordered people. My derm was at first reluctant to do anything to me because of my issues but has now re-considered with these two options (and even something called perlane which I wont do because it requires larger needles as it is more viscous). Any imput is greatly appreciated, as pretty soon they will be calling me my husband's GRANDmother! Thanks, Hattie
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) but seriously, I am very pro light lazer treatment...it is surface treatment and your body's collagene is stimulated naturally through the process...There are other non-lazer methods that do the same thing but it takes much longer to get results...There are also some intense creams and treatment combos that work well too (you can start by doing weekly skin sloughing treatments that cost nearly nothing (those apricot grains cream in drugstores that you massage your skin with and wash off give fabulous results immediately and over time also help to build the collegen up in the skin)...pm me if you want some cheap, effective hints.