Recently, I noticed what looked like a dent on my stomach. I thought maybe it was just a shadow or bruise from my pump site. Tonight, I noticed it still looked like a dent and wasn’t going away so I felt it and there is definitely a dent. It feels like part of my skin/fat underneath disappeared. I looked it up and read about something called lipoatrophy. The pictures and description seem to match it exactly. Has anyone ever experienced this before? Does it go away and what can I do? It doesn’t hurt. I see my endo Wednesday, but I’m concerned about it. I noticed wherever I put my pump site this week, it gets itchy and red. I’m thinking that I might just be allergic to the alcohol pads I’m using. I hope that isn’t related as well. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
there is a recent post by Emily Coles that discusses some of this, both lipoatrophy( the dents) and lipohypertrophy (which I and Emily have: the bumpies and knots) from injection and infusion sites. It is called""I am getting superlumpy", and is in the Insulin Pumpers forum. Sorry guys, I do not know how to post an internal link to Tudiabetes pages and discussions. "Technology immigrant" here, not my first language; I speak tech but I am not fluent.LOL
God bless,
Brunetta
Thanks!!!
Yes, I've had the Lipoatrophy and so have a small percentage of others who have made it known here and on other sites. Just do not put sites/injections in that spot or other spots that you use often. The dents did go away in my case.
Even the big one. I was thrilled!
Here is another discussion link about Lipoatrophy Kim. You could look up lipoatrophy in the search section up above also, since there are more discussions of it, I think. There was one started by a Tud Friend named Karen. Sorry, I forget what the title was.
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/very-disturbed?commentId=583...
As far as the red and itchy area, that may be due to an allergy to the adhesive, type of cannula you are using or an allergy to the Insulin. Hopefully you do not have an infection. I do not think the itchy areas are related to the dent area.
Good luck at your Endo appointment and please let us know how it turns out
As others have said, both lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy typically occur from repeated exposure to insulin at the same place, so a reasonable suggestion is to rotate sites religiously. Many people report that the lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy normalizes after a month or so. But everybody is different. Some people may get problems from simply having the pump site at the same place for a couple of days. With an injection, you can rotate sites every injection.
In either case, I wouldn't necessarily rule out the allergy problems you are having being related to the lipoatrophy. The body can respond in strange ways. You should work to resolve the allergy problems, it may be the alcohol, but it is just as likely something else like the cannula or adhesive.
I will check it out! Thank you!
Thank you!
Thanks everyone for our help! I went to my endo. today for a check-up. She confirmed that it is lipoatrophy and told me to avoid that side and switch alcohol prep. pads. She also said it’s pretty unusual, so hopefully it won’t happen anywhere else. We are just going to avoid that area and if it happens anywhere else, we will go from there. 