Aa
Face has indentations/depressions all over it and no one can tell me why!
There is not even an appropriate section under the "topic" section for me to put this under. Perhaps "mystery condition" could be added to the topic section?
I will try to give the Cliff Notes version of this, as my health problems have been going on for a long time. I am a 43 year old female. I have several autoimmune conditions, most of which doctors and/or naturopaths cannot nail down. Over the years, I have been to at least 30 doctors and so called specialists, and when they failed me, I turned to natural medicine. I have had more luck getting answer from those in the holistic field then anywhere else. Past diagnosies, via bloodwork, labs, biopsies, and various and sundry other tests have been Epstein Barr, Systemic Candida, parasites, Cytomegalovirus, heavy metal toxicity (proven via lab work), possible Lupus (long time ago), Lyme, which was questionable, Fibromyalgia, just to name a few things. I have also had a rare eye condition two times in the past - Papilledema with Pseudo Tumore Cerebre, hormonal issues (PCOS and most likely hypothyroidism).
My health problems started around 14 years ago. My main symptoms are Fibromyalgia pain all over, neck, back and muscles on ribs either go out or spasm all the time, eye sight getting worse, non-stop high pitch tone in ears for over two years (had this in the past, went away by itself, and a cause was never found for it), infertility, inability to lose weight, tired all the time with brain fog, pain in riight heel which doctor thinks is plantar fascitis, hair falls out in cycles, GERD, to name a few things. Please be patient as I had to give this bit of background and I shortened it quite a bit. The part that brings me to the dermatology section is thus. For about 8 or so years, I have started having spontaneous indentations appear on my face. They do no hurt, there does not seem to be anything that proceeds them, i.e. sores, rash, etc. The largest one is about two inches long and over my eyebrow. Many are thumbprint sized. If you look at my skin in the right light, you can see many smaller ones covering my face. You can see some pictures of them here, but even the pictures don't show the true detail of them:
http://s593.photobucket.com/albums/tt17/pumpkinpooterpants/
I have been to several dermatologists, have had lab work done (elevated ANA's but normal sed rates), biopsies done, etc., an NO ONE can tell me for sure what is goiing on. Some guesses have been Scleraderma, but that came back negative on the bloodwork, and Lupus, which also came back negative on the bloodwork and biopsy. Lupus-like Syndrome was guessed at, but basicallly that is a term like Fibromyalgia, meaning they throw into a brood range of symptoms, but no real answers. I was even sent to supposed "specialists" out at UCLA. What a waste of time and emtions that was. They didn't even run further tests on me, looked at me and said, "golly gee, don't know what is wrong with you, but good luck!". No one can bother to pick up a phone and call around to ask opinions around the country, etc. So in the meantime, my face get more and more dents on them and no one has answers or cares enough to want to find answers. One doctor I was seeing even told me that I may be the first patient exhibiting signs of a new skin condition, and if that were true, you'd think he's want to be on the forefront of discovery. Hope, he washed his hands of me, just like everyone else. The overall guess with this has been, some kind of mixed connective tissue disorder, but they cannot loop me into any of the typical diagnosies that go along with such conditions, because I don't meet all the criteria for each.
At some point I am going to have to probably get some kind of filler injected into my face, which is the last thing I want to do. I just want answers and no one seems to care or is smart enough to find out what it is. I would love any insight on this. Unfortunately, I am bound by military insurance, and they are not the best doctors. I would not trust my face to them, but I cannot go anywhere else, money wise. Sigh. Just once I would love to find a doctor who truly cares about people, who will fight to find answers and not give up until they learned what was wrong with their patients. Out of the 30 or so doctors I have gone to over the years, for my various health problems, I haven't met one yet.
I apologize for any typos, but I am typing without my glasses.
Kir
I will try to give the Cliff Notes version of this, as my health problems have been going on for a long time. I am a 43 year old female. I have several autoimmune conditions, most of which doctors and/or naturopaths cannot nail down. Over the years, I have been to at least 30 doctors and so called specialists, and when they failed me, I turned to natural medicine. I have had more luck getting answer from those in the holistic field then anywhere else. Past diagnosies, via bloodwork, labs, biopsies, and various and sundry other tests have been Epstein Barr, Systemic Candida, parasites, Cytomegalovirus, heavy metal toxicity (proven via lab work), possible Lupus (long time ago), Lyme, which was questionable, Fibromyalgia, just to name a few things. I have also had a rare eye condition two times in the past - Papilledema with Pseudo Tumore Cerebre, hormonal issues (PCOS and most likely hypothyroidism).
My health problems started around 14 years ago. My main symptoms are Fibromyalgia pain all over, neck, back and muscles on ribs either go out or spasm all the time, eye sight getting worse, non-stop high pitch tone in ears for over two years (had this in the past, went away by itself, and a cause was never found for it), infertility, inability to lose weight, tired all the time with brain fog, pain in riight heel which doctor thinks is plantar fascitis, hair falls out in cycles, GERD, to name a few things. Please be patient as I had to give this bit of background and I shortened it quite a bit. The part that brings me to the dermatology section is thus. For about 8 or so years, I have started having spontaneous indentations appear on my face. They do no hurt, there does not seem to be anything that proceeds them, i.e. sores, rash, etc. The largest one is about two inches long and over my eyebrow. Many are thumbprint sized. If you look at my skin in the right light, you can see many smaller ones covering my face. You can see some pictures of them here, but even the pictures don't show the true detail of them:
http://s593.photobucket.com/albums/tt17/pumpkinpooterpants/
I have been to several dermatologists, have had lab work done (elevated ANA's but normal sed rates), biopsies done, etc., an NO ONE can tell me for sure what is goiing on. Some guesses have been Scleraderma, but that came back negative on the bloodwork, and Lupus, which also came back negative on the bloodwork and biopsy. Lupus-like Syndrome was guessed at, but basicallly that is a term like Fibromyalgia, meaning they throw into a brood range of symptoms, but no real answers. I was even sent to supposed "specialists" out at UCLA. What a waste of time and emtions that was. They didn't even run further tests on me, looked at me and said, "golly gee, don't know what is wrong with you, but good luck!". No one can bother to pick up a phone and call around to ask opinions around the country, etc. So in the meantime, my face get more and more dents on them and no one has answers or cares enough to want to find answers. One doctor I was seeing even told me that I may be the first patient exhibiting signs of a new skin condition, and if that were true, you'd think he's want to be on the forefront of discovery. Hope, he washed his hands of me, just like everyone else. The overall guess with this has been, some kind of mixed connective tissue disorder, but they cannot loop me into any of the typical diagnosies that go along with such conditions, because I don't meet all the criteria for each.
At some point I am going to have to probably get some kind of filler injected into my face, which is the last thing I want to do. I just want answers and no one seems to care or is smart enough to find out what it is. I would love any insight on this. Unfortunately, I am bound by military insurance, and they are not the best doctors. I would not trust my face to them, but I cannot go anywhere else, money wise. Sigh. Just once I would love to find a doctor who truly cares about people, who will fight to find answers and not give up until they learned what was wrong with their patients. Out of the 30 or so doctors I have gone to over the years, for my various health problems, I haven't met one yet.
I apologize for any typos, but I am typing without my glasses.
Kir
OP, I don't see any scar pics in your Photobucket album (I assume you removed the pics), but I've had the same spontaneous scarring since I was 23; I am now 30. No real help is out there; most dermatologists or docs just brush it off as general acne scarring of just "aging." I've recently had very long, deep indentations at where nasolabial folds would form come out, out of nowhere.
I'm surprised no one in this thread has mentioned Atrophia maculosa varioliformis cutis (AMVC). It is one of the first things to pop up if you Google for random facial scarring. The disease is limited in medical literature and the majority of doctors are uneducated on it; there is also no cure or treatment. If anything, you'd have to resort to lots of cosmetic work like lasers and filler....but those don't address the root cause of this issue.
I'm sorry for everyone on here who has been dealing with this. It destroyed my youth and tarnished my self-confidence forever.
I'm surprised no one in this thread has mentioned Atrophia maculosa varioliformis cutis (AMVC). It is one of the first things to pop up if you Google for random facial scarring. The disease is limited in medical literature and the majority of doctors are uneducated on it; there is also no cure or treatment. If anything, you'd have to resort to lots of cosmetic work like lasers and filler....but those don't address the root cause of this issue.
I'm sorry for everyone on here who has been dealing with this. It destroyed my youth and tarnished my self-confidence forever.
Hi - do you have any new info on treating and I hope stopping occurrence of facial dents. Your pictures are very similar to what I have had going on since January 2018. Just had two new ones form in the last few days. Known health issue is am taking blood thinners in aftermath of having stent put in artery July 2017. 74 yr old female so three docs have told me its aging --I don't believe anything shows up this quickly, and these aren't wrinkles! In fact, I don't even have wrinkles, and this is very disconcerting.
1 Comments
I have very thin blood and low platelets. I also have the circular indentations on my face. I wonder if there is a connection?
I have found that when my face is dehydrated I get all sorts of dimples, wrinkles and so forth. So what I do is put on organic African shea butter mixed with organic coconut oil and it helps me.
have been trying to message you with no luck. I have what appears to be the same thing going on and would like to correspond and compare notes -- mine first noticed by me in January 2018, and I've continued to get more lesions. Have seen two derms, one a pathology guy, and a new GP. All say its just aging! I don't believe they are correct.
1 Comments
my message was intended for SGtanthony
Your facial condition is most likely due to an autoimmune disorder. Mixed connective tissue disease as well as other autoimmune disorders are difficult to diagnosis, and many physicians are reluctant to provide a diagnosis, in part, because there are no definitive treatments. Stick with a rheumatologist who has an interest in autoimmune disorders that most closely approximate your symptoms. There are also national organizations that can provide information, support and the status of current research. I sympathize with your frustrating situation.
2 Comments
Thanks. I was diagnosed with Lupus 21 years ago, but subsequent doctors and tests were inconclusive. About to be retested hopefully soon for a plethora of connective tissue diseases. Still no answers for my face indentations.
Hi, I have strange circular indentations on my cheeks that are 1" to 1 1/2" in diameter. I have several smaller ones on my chin and then really small ones on my temples that look like orange peel. I notice I stopped forming new ones when I eat flax seed which contains Omega 3. When I stop the flax seed, I get new ones. I am vegan and have been for 12 1/2 years. I had to give up soy 4 1/2 years ago due to high TSH and an allergy from it and had been taking an omega 3 supplement until several years ago. That is when I started noticing the orange peel texture. I googled it and it mentioned it could be an omega 3 deficiency. I couldn't find a supplement that I didn't have a reaction to so I eat a Tablespoon of ground flax seed everyday now. I also have a lot of auto-immune stuff going on but my blood work came back negative for Scleroderma, Sjogren's, Lupus, Raynaud's and Rheumatoid Arthritis. My ANA is normal, my white blood count and HsCRP is normal, ESR is normal but I have red toes and fingers that turn white when they get cold and hurt when I sit for long periods. They burn when I am too active. I have dry skin, dry eye, dry mouth, thinning hair, breast lumps, toe nail fungus, had candida overgrowth, had hypothyroidism until I gave up iodized salt, gluten, dairy and soy, now my TSH is normal. I have been to tons of doctors in the last 2 1/2 years trying to figure out different ailments to no avail. My advice is to keep a food and symptom journal. Write down everything that you eat, all of your supplements and prescriptions and what reactions or health issues you have each day. Eliminate all supplements and then see what symptoms disappear. I found that a lot of things I was experiencing were from my supplements. For instance, I had sharp pains in my legs and feet, could hear my heartbeat in my left ear, had a horrible cough and had a pulse under my eye that I could see but not feel. It was faster that my heartbeat. I gave up the Omega 3 and all those symptoms went away. I have also found the best diet is a whole food plant based diet with no added oil. It has helped me lose weight, reverse diabetes, control my candida and got rid of my chest pains. Eliminating other supplements has made my dry mouth go away and by eating flax seeds, my dry eye feels a lot better. Other supplements and/or prescriptions have caused nausea, light-headedness, shortness of breath, palpitations, hard time breathing, upper back pain, sensitive fingernails, rashes, swollen lymph nodes, etc. Good luck.
I showed mine to my highly qualified, MAYO trained dermatologist, Dr. F. George Hougeir, and he said mine are loss of collagen from aging. He doesn't recommend 'fillers' for spots that are so hard to be seen.
I am 39 and in the last month or so have noticed the same thing on only the left side of my face the stretch marks the indentation. The right side is perfect! I do not suffer from any auto immune disease. However, I was born with a heart defect that went undected until my early teens, causing lung damage as well as the condition, secondary polycythemia. My O2 sats are low, my circulation terrible. Did you ever find out what was happening?!? I think mine could be that or the simple fact that I always seem to press on this side of my face.
Hi, I have the same problem, I had one for years growing very slowly,showed to two doctors, hardly they can notice it, now there are seven/eight more very small, really worried about them. I had Asthma, then got vitamin D deficiency, recently found H. Pylori in blood test, someone wrote that H. Pylori causes a lot of other health problems, so I would suggest you go for HPylori test.
To everyone, no, I still have no answers. I have more dents showing up and now I have what looks like horizontal stretch marks (that's the only way I can describe them), along both sides of my face, starting just at my jawline and going up about 1-2" on my cheeks. I have major health issues, mainly autoimmune in nature, so I don't know if they are connected to that at all. Despite seeing numerous specialists in many fields, they can't tell me either.
Has anyone found an answer on this? About two weeks after giving birth to my daughter four years ago, this began on my face and hasn't stopped. It has made me hate myself and I have done many test with no answers. Please help.
I found your comments and have just now come to search for an answer to my strange puckering as I call it, over my left eyebrow. Its very distinct to me but no one has noticed it apparently since Iv not had any comments on it.
Im going into my senior years but I dont think its an aging issue. I believe its due to something other than age. It doesnt hurt or cause any other symptoms other than the odd characteristics. I would like to hear back from you and learn more about this whatever it is. Im planning to call a nurse tomorrow and try to find out what this is.
Im going into my senior years but I dont think its an aging issue. I believe its due to something other than age. It doesnt hurt or cause any other symptoms other than the odd characteristics. I would like to hear back from you and learn more about this whatever it is. Im planning to call a nurse tomorrow and try to find out what this is.
1 Comments
ditto for me RCM880. I have none of the other health issues others have described here. I am on blood thinners since July 2017 when I got a stent implanted by my heart. I have no other health issues and I recovered quickly and all seems well except these well defined (in the right light) indentations are spreading and we all know how disconcerting this is. My skin has been immaculate until now. I had morphea many years ago and three docs I have recently seen that is not an issue now. Has anyone learned of any treatment or anyone to see who can help?
I know your post to me is old, but I just now saw it. Was wondering if you found out anything more about your facial indentations. Have you heard of a condition called Porphyria? It might be a connection. Please let me know if you've found out anything new. Thanks.
Hi, I am 39 years old and in the last 3 months I have seen several of these indentations pop out on my face; one very deep impression over my eyebrow as well. I have no medical issues that I am aware of and I am totally freaked out by what's happening to my skin. Have you found out what is causing this problem yet and I cannot believe that noone has posted any comments on this strange condition. I have no idea what I'm going to do about this because I have no financial resources at the moment to even check this out.
I am anxious to get this resolved, because I don't even know if it's permanent.
Chev
I am anxious to get this resolved, because I don't even know if it's permanent.
Chev
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Dermatology Community
Learn to identify and prevent bites from summer’s most common pests.
Doctors argue for legislation to curb this dangerous teen trend in the latest Missouri Medicine report.
10 ways to keep your skin healthy all winter long
How to get rid of lumpy fat on your arms, hips, thighs and bottom
Diet “do’s” and “don’ts” for healthy, radiant skin.
Images of rashes caused by common skin conditions
