Panniculitis is a health condition marked by inflammation in your subcutaneous adipose tissue, in other words that fat under your skin. In turn, this inflammation causes skin lumps that are often tender, coupled with skin pigment changes similar to a healing bruise.
In some cases, panniculitis spots can progress into red skin lesions and deep skin ulcers, coupled with oozing an oily discharge and necrosis. And how an ulcerated panniculitis looks bears a strong resemblance to ringworm, a fungal skin infection.
Panniculitis caused lumps, lesions or ulcers symptoms healing time is anywhere from a couple of weeks to couple of months. During your adipose tissue inflammation period you may experience other symptoms as well, like:
The underlying cause of your panniculitis skin symptoms may never be identified. However, your tender skin lumps, red skin lesions or deep skin ulcers can be associated with an external insult, inflammatory disease or systemic disorder.
External insult caused panniculitis skin lumps symptoms may appear after a bout of hypothermia, vigorous exercise or some sort of skin trauma, for instance intravenous drug injection or cryotherapy. There are numerous underlying inflammatory and systemic health conditions that could be a contributing cause to your panniculitis, such as:
- lupus
- lymphoma
- sarcoidosis
- pancreatitis
- scleroderma
- histiocytosis
- Behcet’s disease
- pancreatic cancer
- rheumatoid arthritis
- inflammatory bowel disease
- alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
- infections ~ tuberculosis, strep, mycoplasma pneumonia, yersinia, Epstein-Barr
Infections and connective tissue diseases make you more susceptible to developing skin problems. And erythema nodosum is the most common form of panniculitis.
Treatment for your tender skin lumps or red skin lesions or deep skin ulcers can be challenging. Some of the option your health care provider may use in an attempt to treat your panniculitis include an anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, corticosteroid or blood transfusion.