Day 11/12
I got 0.25 cc (corrected from prior post) of kenalog-10 in the lump underneath this weekend since I was getting really uncomfortable with how things looked (and this was a huge favor from someone I know - not Dr. C - long story). It can take a while to change - if it is even going to change from kenalog at this dose. I think it could be a hematoma, which won\'t respond to kenalog anyway. It\'s hard to say. Dr. C uses Kenalog 40 (4x stronger) at 0.1cc I think (it seems that the literature recommends that). It\'s more for prevention of this getting bigger than for breaking up a mature lump...so kenalog-40 isn\'t really needed for now, i think. Kenalog can cause atrophy so it has to be used in small doses unless things are already formed and hardened (at which point even kenalog-40 might not work).
I have a few very hard of nodules and ridges. They\'re all marked on the images below. Most of them are entry points. The hardness of the nodules is shown in how bright green the color is. Only the bruised area was injected. First, we attempted to pierce the nodule \"track\" and drain any blood or lymph, but nothing came out. When the needle was pulled out - a ton of blood spurted out...so something is trapped...it just doesn\'t want to drain. On the underside, there\'s not just 1 nodule. It\'s very odd - like a cord attached to a balloon. And some spots are much harder than others.
Does anyone have any thoughts/advice about dealing with areas and nodules at this stage? I couldn\'t risk the underside turning hard, so i had to see a doctor to deal with that...and the treatment may not even work. I don\'t know. the entry points, I know from before & other posters, should heal on their own (if not, I can do the DWD procedure). But, the underside nodule and semi-firm areas are more of a concern.
I found this very useful discussion on PMMA lumps and injecting them. It took forever to find people actually giving dosages and doctor names (Dr. Casavantes comes up here too since a few people went to him). He also uses 5FU but I couldn\'t get that.
www.realself.com/review/artefill-artecoll-lumps
Based on what I read here, I think these \"ridges\" are just needle tracks with PMMA in them, or needle tracks that disturbed surrounding tissue and are full of lymph and/or blood.