Topic: blue/black spot on back of ear(cartiledge) that is still here 3 months later.
trueblue
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posted
Pulled from a thread of mine between 9/22 and 10/1...
quote:And lately a bluish dark thing behind (swelling has gone down in a few weeks and I can touch it, sometimes) It is on the back of the cartiledge part of the left ear.
I don't know what this thing is. Nor do I know what kind of Dr to see about it. It was shown to the LLMD almost 3 months ago and to the internist 2x since. Who said, "maybe an ear doctor?"
One day last week after trying clindamyacin and peroxide cream on it it opened during the night and bled pretty nicely. But it still isn't gone.
I have pictures but cannot post them As I have no where to host them. If anyone would like to hazard a guess I'll be glad to crawl under the puter and hook up the phone and send you the pics. (I'd need an email addy for that.)
3 months seems an excesssive amount of time for this thing to still be blue, swollen, sore, look freaky and not be healing.
Any input or suggestions great appreciated. TIA! trueblue (behind the left ear).
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
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david1097
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Maybe a dermatologist would be the best bet? If it was me, I would also ask my regular Dr to swab it and get a culture or at least do a wet smear and have someone take a look at it.
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just don
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Yes indeed, I for sure, if I were you, would want to rule out a melanoma type issue, IF it happens to be you have to catch it early to have a GOOD chance of beating it. Alot like lyme,,,it gets entrenched and no way hosea.
Follow the expert advice from above,,,go see a dermatoligist,,,my exact thoughts.
I have a few suspect spots too that bear watching this winter. Side of my face where the reading glasses bow crosses the temple. It feels like sandpaper to the touch. Hope yours feels better,,,REAL SOON!!!!cuz i still b --just don--
-------------------- just don Posts: 4548 | From Middle of midwest | Registered: May 2001
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just don
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Sorry I forgot, me bad, to say google melanoma and compare that and any info you can find to what you have and see any similiarieties(sp aw, ya know what I MEAN) and see how it compares to what you have.
Take care TBF, with luck I MAY get to chat with you tonight. But afraid I will be so tired it will indeed be a short chat (for me).
I am gettting MY turkey today,,,always two days late and two bucks short. Also may finish running around like a chicken with its neck short, back and forth, back and forth. You KNOW what I mean ,,,I think!!! That will alleviate MOST of the tiredness and over tired ness. My not so bountiful gatherings will have come to a final conclusion!! IB--just don--
-------------------- just don Posts: 4548 | From Middle of midwest | Registered: May 2001
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Vermont_Lymie
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Hi true,
definitely, see a dermatologist! This is one time that a llmd will not do (unless they are also a dermo).
Not an ear doctor!
best wishes!
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posted
Yeah, see a dermatologist for sure! I see one about twice a year and have had 10 skin cancers removed and about 175 possibles.
The ear thing you talked about is a classic symptom of melonoma. They bleed and itch and scab up all the time. I had three removed from the ears. Some from the back and head and many from around the body.
I worked in the desert many years. Summer temp was up to 125 (not considered hot until over 115).
One thing I learned is Never go without a large wide brimed hat. Never take your shirt off and wear long sleeve shirts. Of course wear gloves.
Cover all of your skin and wear good sun glasses. Cover your neck. Your sweat soaked in your clothes will cool you... Drink lots of Gatoraid. Water will make you sick.. Soft drinks will make you puke. Your body needs the minerals due to heavy sweating.
Usually the dermatologist zaps ugly spots with liquid nitrogen. They freeze solid and they fall off (yeah, it hurts. Feels like a bad burn and blisters will form, but soon heals up). I was lucky last visit only had 7 zaps..
Also,had a real bad one removed. It was deep in the left arm. It was a large raised bump that was sore and itched for several weeks and wouldn't heal up.
The doc scooped it out and said that he hoped he got it all.. I watched and I wanted the thing but he had to send it to the lab. Lab came back said it was cancer but doc got it all. The hole has healed up.
I had one on my back (big one) had to have a surgeon remove it last year because it was close to the spine. I got to see it. It was the size of my thumb... It was a possible cancer but tested ok..
Skin cancer will kill you if not caught in time. My grandfather(farmer) died of a skin cancer on his ear.
It ate off the side of his head. Nasty way to die... The ducks didn't know much about skin cancer in the '60s.
Good luck Tj
Posts: 192 | From Phoenix, AZ | Registered: Apr 2005
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trueblue
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posted
Thanks guys, I thought a dermatologist as well and just kept wondering why he referred me to an ear Dr twice. (I don't think this is a cancer.)
It seems to me more like a boil of some sort. It's got fluid (mostly blood) in it. This is blue, like, from being full of blood. I'm sorry if I was unclear.
It doesn't look like melanoma from any thing I've ever seen. Sorry to get you all upset and thank you for your caring and prompt replies.
What I'd most like to know is what to have the dermatogist culture for? David, is that what a wet smear would be? (This can and should have the fluid(blood) drawn from it.)
Staph (would be obvious)
what else? any coinfections that might show up? (Bart, lyme, what can be found from skin and or under skin weirdities?)
I've got a whole lot of cysts that start like hard, red, round, raise, under skin pimples and just crop up with no warning on my lower face and neck. They take 6 months or so to go away.
The last dermatologist I tried for these... said "acne" (he gave me the clinda/peroxide cream) and tried to open and drain a cyst the size of a pea and failed. So then I had a big lump and a slice in it.
The cream doesn't work, since it's not acne, neither does tea tree oil, or resamid(sp?).
Cave Yeah, I can hear my mother saying that too! "It's the badness coming out of you." You might be right.
Tj33 - I'm glad your dermatologist has been on the ball and able to take care of those skin cancers. I'm sorry you've had to go through it and very sorry to hear about your grandfather.
I'll make an appointment on Monday.
Thank you all
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
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david1097
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Hi, I should have said wet mount (not smear) sorry about that. This is basically a thick smear of the fluid that can be stained and looked at under a microscope to see what types of things are in the discharge. Many types of bacteria can show up but also none at all, at least it give a Dr a direction to look in.
Once it drained did it get any better? I had something like you describe for many months and after it finally drained it never came back. It was a bacterial infection when the fluid was cultured.
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trueblue
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Thanks David, It got smaller but hasn't gone away... either it didn't drain completely or it's producing more ickiness. (sorry for the technical term) That's why I was thinking it's a good time to get the fluid looked at and cultured.
I'll have to try and find a competent Dermatologist.
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
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