In a bad place with this: SK's: Seborrheic Keratosis or Senile Warts

[HappyDaysAreAhead]

Last year my Dad tragically died. I was there. Immediately afterwards I started to experience itchy skin and have high blood pressure.

GP said high BP likely caused by the trauma and it may resolve as I come to terms with everything. It hasn't and I now take medication. My GP couldn't explain the skin issues but said it could be perimenopausal.

Then I got my first Seborrheic Keratosis. It grew quickly and was constantly inflamed and I had never experienced so much itchiness before. In the end it was removed by the NHS as they were unsure what it was.

I've recently realised that I have 4 more Seb K's. 1 is really itchy. I have a GP appt booked but it's 4 weeks away.

I've read so much about Seb K's but there's limited 'real life' info.

I'm starting to spiral into panic as I've read Seb K's can be a 'Leser-Trélat' symptom of internal cancer. I can't see anything relating to this about frequency and amount of Seb K's.

I've read they are generally on the trunk area.
Mine are on my chest and both legs.

So I'm looking for any advice or experiences:

My specific questions are:

∆ What age did your Seb K's appear?
∆ Did you get Seb K's one at a time or in multiple?
∆ How many do you have?
∆ How do you manage the itchiness?

Thanks for reading all this.

About the same time as menopause. Early / mid 50s.

Mine are on my back, so I can’t be sure I spotted them all immediately. Went from none to seven or eight in a year or so.

The itching is a nightmare. Eucerin cream helps, but I can’t reach them all.

I’ve had a couple removed where they were being caught on bra strap.

They are unsightly, but GP has assured me there is no need to worry.

Thanks. Did you pay private for the removal?

Some of mine are flat and pale but the itchy ones are sort of dome shaped.

Mine the same. Mix of flat and raised. Some relatively smooth, others very scaly.

GP took them off for me.

Also, general itchiness was a huge peri symptom for me, unrelated to the SK.

Thanks. How long has it been since you got a new SK? Can I ask your age?

I've had perimenopause symptoms for about 5 years but my cycle has shortened in the last year.

I’m 63. Not sure when most recent arrived because I can only see them in the mirror when I specifically check.

I don’t know where you are in the country, but I had some other lesions (face, similar location to where my DM had had something cancerous) that I was worried about and couldn’t get a GP appointment for weeks. I booked a private appointment through skininspection.co.uk. The dermatologist could not have been more thorough and she was able to tell me why she wasn’t worried about different types of mole/ SK. It cost £250 for a complete body check and was so worth it for the reassurance.

Thanks. That puts me a bit more at ease. I just seem to spiral on this stuff.

I will look into that. Money well spent for peace of mind. Thanks

I’ve nothing specific or helpful to say op other than I’m really sorry to hear about your Dad and ongoing anxiety and physical discomfort. I hope you turn a corner soon.

I got an SK removed a few weeks ago, it came from nowhere about age 45, so been there 5 years. It was diagnosed as an SK but biopsy results have shown it to be a benign dermatofibroma... Yep, I had to Google too!

In the last year or so - I'm 50 now, I've been getting lots of scaly patches... Random places, small psoriasis like patches.

I've looked into this and these things flare in your early 20s and your early 50s apparently. It's clearly not an exact age science but if you are of meno age then it's possibly these.

Even SK is nothing to worry about. They thought it might be a BCC Basal Cell Carcinoma (?) even then they weren't that worried. Said it could sit there for years and do nothing.

Yep, I've spent quite a bit of time with the dermatologist 😂

I've had other things looked at by GP and put on the 2 week cancer pathway for suspected melanomas, been had those removed and biopsied.

They won't mess about or wait and see if they suspect something urgent.

SK, and other scaly itchy patches are just par for our hormones and age I suspect. Obviously get them checked, but try not to worry too much.

I appreciate your reply, thanks.

I have wondered if it's linked to general bad skin? I also get flare ups of eczema especially when I'm run down or reliving the trauma of my Dad.

GP says not really sure what causes it and can't say if it's hormone related as SK's effect men and women, so likely age.

I keep trying to look at people's skin! I haven't met anyone in person that says they have SK's and yet it's supposed to be common. I just feel like a hot mess.

Yes, I think it is linked to general bad skin, genetics and stress (and now age 😭)

I always had seborrhoeic dermatitis as teen - scaly patches around scalp, eyebrows, on my back... Then it cleared up for years.

Now though I'm back on the Tgel! Scaly scalp, scabby ears, itchy back... I did show it all to dermatologist when last at hospital a few weeks ago and she prescribed hydrocortisone... But I've found out that if I use Tgel on hair then rub it round ears and back it works much better!

I do think that if you've previously had bad skin then this is our time for it to flare up again 🙄

If your GP isn't concerned then try not to worry. I was only referred for this one in case of BCC but that wasn't an urgent referral.

Strange thing the skin, and definitely not helped by stress!

The itching is driving me insane this weekend.

Had anyone tried dabbing tea tree oil on their Seb K's or perhaps a famous kids antiseptic cream?

I’ve used tea tree gel which helped but not oil. I really do sympathise though, I remember the discomfort well.

Thanks @PartyFearsTwo did yours settle or did you have treatment?

@HappyDaysAreAhead I had a warty type thing under my eye and had it removed by NHS with the cold spray method but that was probably 15 years ago.

It came back recently and i started dabbing castor oil on it two or three times a day or whenever i remembered and it got smaller and smaller until one day it had sort of lifted and i peeled it off with tweezers, not scar nothing so maybe worth a try as i was really amazed but it probably took about 6 weeks or so.

Ds had a big 'wisdom wart' on his forehead,the dermatologist said it was nothing to worry about but it looked really awful. He used salicylic acid (Clearasil spot cream) for about 2 weeks and it completely went. His was a flesh coloured dome bump.

I had something similar on my forehead but mine was pink literally came up over night, tried the Clearasil cream and it didn't work at all. I did loads of googling and apparently the new treatment for them is high strength Diclofenic gel which is Voltorol. Took a week to go, amazing and relieved as I don't want that on my face!

My partner has eczema and SK lumps on his back .
Treating the eczema with steroid cream seems to have greatly diminished the SK .

Thanks I will try anything. So fed up of these things.

Thanks. I'm going to try a few things for a few weeks on a few Seb K's and see what works.

Thanks. What strength steroid cream is it? I could try this on my legs.

You could look at the gut skin axis.

as we age our microbiomes change all over our bodies. There are microbiomes everywhere, your skin, your mouth, your scalp, your bowels, your bladder, your vagina etc.

As we age we also have increased inflammation - literally this IS aging.

So I would suggest looking at an anti-inflammatory diet, lots of salmon, avocados, no alcohol etc (alcohol kills our bacterial diversity, think about those alcohol sprays we used during Covid to kill everything, it does this in your gut too.

Research shows that greater microbial diversity is associated with longevity and better health however as we age the diversity tends to decrease.

Often people with inflammation have low levels of bifidobacteria and lactobacillus.

This is due to having taken antibiotics, general stress, pollution, poor Western diet, etc.

I would look at mixed multi strain high strength probiotic, possibly something like Vivomixx. This is potent.

Alternatively, single strain of bifidobacteria can be better if you think you’re going to be sensitive to various strains. This could be the case seeing as it would look like you have high levels of histamine in your skin which is probably what’s causing things to backfire.

Pub med is certainly worth looking at to see what latest treatments suggest as well as latest Microbiome research. Often people don’t want to take a full body approach but the results can be life changing if you think you could do it. Zoe nutrition is also a good place to look for help with diet they have a lot of YouTube videos. Finally I’m sure hormones could be part of the picture so HRT may give some relief and some dampening of the inflammation of your skin.

Some interesting points in 4. Discussion

of this report

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943515/

This is interesting as I had a blood test with elevated CR-P (C Reactive Protein) so that could be related? I hadn't even considered this.

I have to admit I use antibacterial hand gel multiple times a day too.

I don't understand a lot of that document but another interesting thing is that I seem to acquire a new SK each time I have COVID.