Understanding Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Skin Lesions

While Multiple Sclerosis (MS) doesn’t cause skin lesions, some aspects of MS or MS treatment can be associated with an increased risk of skin lesions, hives, and other skin problems. Treatment options may help.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the nervous system. It can cause a range of symptoms, from fatigue and muscle spasms to itching, numbness, and even vision, bowel, and cognitive problems.

MS may increase the risk of certain skin lesions, usually because of irritation from excessive scratching or as a side effect of some MS medications. Treatments for MS lesions vary and may be different from typical treatments for rashes and hives triggered by other causes.

Learn more about MS.

A skin lesion is a small or large section of skin that differs from the surrounding skin. It could be a dry patch, hives, or other irritation.

An MS skin lesion is one that develops as a result of having MS, as opposed to skin that’s injured by a scrape or burn or that changes because of an acne breakout or a condition such as psoriasis or eczema.

A skin lesion triggered by MS medications may present as hives and as red and swollen bumps, often on the face.

The itching sensation that often accompanies MS also can cause someone to scratch their skin too much in looking for relief. Symptoms may then include raised, thickened areas of skin that can become cracked. Bleeding and infection may follow.

There are several causes of MS skin lesions, including:

Pruritus

For people with MS, itchy skin, also known as pruritus, is a type of dysesthesia, an abnormal sensation triggered by changes in the central nervous system. In addition to itchiness, dysesthesia can feel like pain, numbness, or tingling.

A 2018 study suggests that about 80% of people with MS experience some type of sensory symptoms such as itching, tingling, and abnormal sensitivity to heat and cold.

MS affects the central nervous system by harming the myelin, a fatty sheath that surrounds and protects nerve fibers. As a result, the nerve fibers themselves are changed. Specific nerve fibers affected by MS lead to various MS symptoms, including dysesthesia.

Side effects of oral medications

Medications you take to treat MS may also cause MS skin lesions. MS medications associated with skin lesion side effects include:

• cladribine
• alemtuzumab (rarely used because of serious and potentially life threatening side effects)
• natalizumab (rarely used because of serious and potentially life threatening side effects)

Injection site reaction

Some MS medications are self-injected and can cause bruising or swelling in the area of injection. A site reaction is different from the side effect of systemic rash that’s caused by some MS medications. Site reactions can cause redness or a rash, and the complications can be severe.

Immune system suppression

Most MS treatments, such as maintenance disease-modifying therapy and steroids used during an attack, suppress the immune system.

Skin infections can occur when the immune system is weakened, and these skin infections may cause symptoms such as:

• changes in skin color
• itching
• rash
• redness
• sensitivity
• bleeding

To diagnose MS skin lesions, a doctor or healthcare professional will:

• examine the affected area of skin
• discuss other symptoms you have, if any
• list your current medications
• review your medical history

A doctor will also investigate other causes for your skin lesions such as:

• possible injection site infection
• another autoimmune disease that causes skin changes
• severe and harmful scratching
• medications for other conditions

The treatment for MS skin lesions will depend on what’s causing them.

If MS medications are causing skin lesions, the first approach may be to stop the drugs. A doctor may recommend an alternative medication that’s not associated with a high risk of hives or other risks.

If the MS skin lesions are mild, a doctor may prescribe medications to treat the hives or skin reactions. Antihistamines are among the medications that are sometimes used. Histamines are substances the body releases in response to infections and allergies.

Histamines can cause symptoms such as:

• congestion
• hives
• itching
• skin rashes
• sneezing
• watery eyes

Antihistamines blunt the effects of histamines. If an antihistamine isn’t effective, a doctor may then recommend taking a short course of corticosteroids, which reduce inflammation and symptoms such as hives.

Other medications that may help reduce skin lesions include:

• corticosteroids
• omalizumab, an injectable medication for chronic hives and other inflammatory conditions
• topical antifungal
• medications for specific autoimmune disorders

Because skin lesions can develop in anyone with MS, there’s no single risk factor that makes one person more likely than another to develop them. Likewise, there are no factors that overwhelmingly raise the risk of developing MS.

MS is a disease of the immune system, and scientists are still trying to understand why certain people develop MS. Certain genetic traits may raise the risk of MS, but MS isn’t considered an inheritable condition such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington’s disease.

MS skin lesions won’t affect the course of MS. However, they can cause complications if they’re not treated, so it’s important to respond as soon as possible to the onset of skin lesions or other new MS symptoms.

Does MS itself cause hives or other skin lesions?

Though MS can affect many parts of the body, the disease itself doesn’t cause skin changes. The skin lesions experienced by individuals with MS are usually attributable to excessive itching, medication side effects, or other medical conditions.

Is it possible to reduce itching without medications?

Because the pruritus brought on by MS isn’t a typical skin condition, moisturizers and soothing lotions may not be as effective. However, they may be helpful in easing the irritation caused by a lot of scratching. Learning to manage stress is also associated with MS symptom reduction.

What type of doctors treat MS symptoms?

Because MS affects so many systems in the body, you may be best served by a team of specialists, including:

• neurologist
• pain specialist
• dermatologist
• ophthalmologist
• gastroenterologist
• mental health profession

MS is a challenging disease, but by being proactive about your care and taking your medications as directed, you may be able to reduce symptoms, such as skin lesions, and improve your quality of life.

MS skin lesions are indirect complications of the disease and are usually treatable. Keep in mind that that not all cases of hives, rashes, or other skin problems will be related to MS. Food allergies, sunburn, and many other factors can trigger skin lesions, so be sure to get a thorough medical evaluation if these symptoms appear.

When Multiple Sclerosis Causes Skin Symptoms

Types of Skin Pain Caused by MS

Most people with MS experience paresthesias, which are abnormal, temporary sensations, including numbness, prickling, or pins and needles, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Other symptoms include losing feeling on the skin completely (hypoesthesia) and dysesthesias (painful sensations that can affect the legs, feet, arms, and hands), which feel like burning, prickling, stabbing, ice cold, itching, or electrical sensations, notes the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

RELATED: What You Should Know About MS Complications

Treatments for Skin Pain Caused by MS

Various medications and treatments may help relieve MS-related skin symptoms. These include:

• Antiseizure medications such as carbamazepine (Tegretol), gabapentin (Neurontin), and pregabalin (Lyrica). These work by helping to block the nerves’ ability to transmit painful sensations, explains Giesser.
• Antidepressants such as nortriptyline (Pamelor), amitriptyline (Elavil), and duloxetine (Cymbalta). These work by lowering the nerves’ excitability.
• Lidocaine patches to treat severe pain in a localized area.
• Topical creams such as capsaicin cream, which can cause temporary burning or stinging where applied but which can, over time, block painful sensations by blocking the release of a neurotransmitter involved in relaying pain, notes Giesser.
• Acupuncture
• Mindfulness
• Meditation
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

If none of these drugs or treatments adequately controls skin pain or discomfort caused by MS, a pain specialist may need to be involved in your care team to offer other alternatives.

RELATED: 9 Surprising Symptoms of MS

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Symptoms of multiple sclerosis – features of the clinical picture and diagnostic “traps”

Symptoms of multiple sclerosis – features of the clinical picture and diagnostic “traps”.

Multiple sclerosis is often a diagnosis of exclusion. Why? Firstly, this is a rare disease that the doctor does not always think about right away. Secondly, since the affected area is the CNS (central nervous system), there is a wide range of symptoms: from persistent weakness and vision problems to gait disturbances and urinary incontinence. We tell you what multiple sclerosis can be confused with and what are the features of its clinical picture.

Briefly about the important
Multiple sclerosis affects special structures of the CNS – myelinated nerve fibers. They are responsible for conducting nerve impulses – and depending on which area of ​​the central nervous system the damage is localized, there are sensitivity disorders (to cold, heat, pain, vibration), body mobility, as well as disorders in the emotional and mental sphere.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease with steady progression, but if therapy is started at an early stage, its course slows down, the patient gets a chance to avoid disability.

In the later stages, as a rule, no significant improvement can be expected, although modern rehabilitation options allow improving the quality of life, partially restoring lost body functions.

Symptoms with a question mark

In demyelinating diseases (and multiple sclerosis belongs to this group of pathologies), the onset of symptoms can be blurred:

• weakness in the arms and legs, general malaise
• fatigue
• dizziness
• headache
• numbness of extremities, face, tingling sensation, “creeping” on the body, reduced or, conversely, increased sensitivity to cold, heat, other irritants
• pain – in the eyes at movement of the eyeballs, in the face, neck, legs (shooting, burning, bursting character, sometimes even with the appearance of redness and swelling of the skin)
• sudden deterioration or loss of vision (usually on one side)
• Urinary incontinence

It is worth noting that the listed symptoms do not always appear simultaneously. One or two may dominate, which is more typical.

Because of this, patients either do not immediately go to the doctor (attributing weakness to fatigue, and “goosebumps” and numbness, for example, hands – to osteochondrosis), or go to the specialist whose profile most closely matches the symptom (an ophthalmologist with visual impairment , urologist for problems with urination).

How soon will they see a neurologist and will multiple sclerosis be immediately suspected? Alas, precious time is often wasted – with waiting in lines, with a delay in performing an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) study, or because the diagnostic search has gone aside and a completely different disease is assumed.

“Masks” of multiple sclerosis
Mistakes in the diagnosis of neurological diseases are not uncommon, since the same pathology can manifest itself in different ways in different patients. The individual characteristics of the body, past infections, chronic diseases, age, gender affect the clinical picture, its brightness is influenced by dozens of factors – and the doctor sometimes has to move literally blindly to find clear evidence of certain disorders.

Multiple sclerosis can be mistaken for:

Typical symptoms
The advanced phase of multiple sclerosis is characterized by: ny apples with their movement)

One of the most striking symptoms is the symptom of Lermitte (characterized by the fact that the patient, when tilting the head, seems to be given an electric shock, and he feels the return of this impulse to the legs or arms).

It is necessary to pay attention to such a “general” symptom as fatigue. It is aggravated in the heat or in a hot bath and relieved in a cool room or in the cold season, does not depend on the load. A healthy person gets tired after physical or mental work, and a patient with multiple sclerosis constantly feels exhausted and lethargic.

There are both aggressive and mild (benign) forms of multiple sclerosis. In the first case, the prognosis for patients is usually unfavorable, since the disease develops quickly, with frequent exacerbations. In the second, subject to the timely initiation of therapy, one can count on remission (no symptoms) – sometimes quite long, lasting for years.

Now you know more about the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. This is an insidious disease that, with an aggressive course, causes persistent impairment of body mobility and other severe disorders. If nothing is done, disability sets in – and this outcome can be avoided.

An obligatory component of therapy is rehabilitation courses that can not only slow down damaging processes due to drug support, but also restore lost body functions. Doctors of the “Consilium” work with patients at different stages of the development of multiple sclerosis – and they know how to achieve the most effective results.

May 27 – World Multiple Sclerosis Day

Abdullina Maria Vladislavovna

Pediatrician

MD GROUP Clinical Hospital

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic relapsing disease of the central nervous system, which is characterized by the formation of multiple scattered foci of demyelination in the brain and spinal cord.

“Let’s decipher” this name: “sclerosis” – this word means “scar”, and scattered means multiple.

A distinctive feature of this disease is the presence of foci of sclerosis scattered throughout the central nervous system without a specific localization – the replacement of normal nervous tissue with connective tissue.

Multiple sclerosis was first described in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot.

In recent years, unfortunately, the prevalence of multiple sclerosis has increased.

The disease usually occurs between the ages of 15 and 50. Women get sick 2 times more often.

The cause of the disease remains unknown .

Most scientists adhere to the point of view of the polyetiological genesis of the disease, viruses and bacteria are among the causal factors.

Symptoms of multiple sclerosis

Timely diagnosis and early therapy for multiple sclerosis can significantly slow down the development of the disease and prevent the rapid development of disability. The patient and his relatives cannot make a diagnosis of “multiple sclerosis”, but they may suspect it and contact a specialist.

Among the early symptoms of multiple sclerosis, are noted:

• Fatigue (that is, previously habitual physical activity, walking, exercise becomes difficult).
• Unsteadiness of gait, difficulty in maintaining balance may occur.
• Disturbances in temperature, vibration and tactile sensitivity of the upper and lower extremities are common early onset symptoms of MS.
• The first complaints may be associated with a decrease in visual acuity, narrowing of the visual fields, oculomotor disorders.

Often, such complaints occur after suffering the flu or other respiratory viral infections. Sudden overheating can also initiate the onset of the first symptoms of MS. Their underestimation is dangerous. The first symptoms of MS are usually transient, followed by full recovery (remission). Only a specialist can answer the question of whether fatigue, decreased visual acuity and other symptoms are the first symptoms of multiple sclerosis or are the results of seasonal physical inactivity and beriberi.

The complexity of early diagnosis of MS is due, in particular, to the fact that with a subsequent exacerbation, new symptoms may appear, and the previous ones may not recur .

At more than young age MS: sensory disturbance with numbness or paresthesias in the limbs or trunk, unsteadiness when walking, fatigue and transient weakness, transient loss of vision, double vision, dizziness, weakness in the limbs.

After a few days or weeks, the symptoms usually disappear completely, but after a few weeks or months they return again, often accompanied by new symptoms. With each new exacerbation, recovery becomes less and less complete, and residual symptoms gradually “accumulate”.

At the late stages of , a relatively stereotypical picture is formed:

1. Muscle weakness.
2. Spasticity (high muscle tone in the limbs).
3. Unsteadiness and unsteadiness when walking, impaired coordination in the limbs, gross intentional tremor. (A feature of tremor is its occurrence at the moment of purposeful movement of the hand to a particular object). These symptoms are associated with damage to the cerebellum and are observed in approximately 70% of patients.
4. Pain. With multiple sclerosis, shooting or cutting pains in the pelvis, shoulders and face are often observed. Approximately 3% of patients have facial pain similar to trigeminal neuralgia. Most cases of bilateral trigeminal neuralgia are due to multiple sclerosis.
5. Dysfunction of the pelvic organs (urinary retention or incontinence). Violation of urination is usually accompanied by impotence.
6. Mental disorders. With multiple sclerosis, depression, euphoria, and emotional lability are possible. Euphoria often occurs in the later stages of multiple sclerosis and is combined with a pronounced decrease in intelligence.

In more than advanced age the disease often acquires a progressive course from the very beginning.

The course of the disease is chronic, there are 4 types of the course of the disease:

1. Relapsing-relapsing – most common

• Periods of exacerbation followed by periods of complete recovery or partial improvement
• No increase in symptoms (i. e. progression) between exacerbations

• Relapsing-relapsing course of the disease often followed by secondary progression
• Disease progressive with or without exacerbations

• Progressive from onset
• Occasional periods of slight improvement

• Progression at the onset of the disease
• Development of obvious exacerbations against the background of slow progression

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is based mainly on the identification of 2 clinical features:

• Undulating course – alternation of exacerbations and remissions in the remitting form, fluctuations in the rate of progression in the progredient form.
• Multifocal lesion of the white matter of the brain.

Paraclinical data support the diagnosis.