Full-Body TSW vs Nummular Type

I learned something new this week, which just goes to show that even after almost 2 years off steroid creams, there is always new information out there. Long may it continue to be so!

Anyway, on the Itsan forum, one of our members had been to see Dr Rapaport about their skin and came back with this report:

"He said what was interesting about me was that I don't seem to have it too bad. I do not have it at all on my face and my right hand has the smallest spot on the back of my hand. He said that 10% of cases present like me, that it is the nummular type, and this is about the extent of it. He said that a very large amount of my skin looks completely unaffected, and that's a very significant thing. He said that he only just met me now, and I'm only starting my third month, and he is cautious of being too hopeful, but he said that it was looking very good for me. He said he doesn't know what makes someone nummular and not full body, this is just how it happened to be for me."
This is really interesting. It seems that 10 percent of people going through TSW have a more localised withdrawal pattern, as is explained further:

"I'd like to clarify more on nummular eczema. That might be a new term for some of you. It means your eczema spots come up coin shaped. Not perfect circles, but the about the size of coins. Now mine were bigger and some smaller, but it means you have spots. Now in TSW, my spots all merged and some were really big like grapefruits, and some were small like quarters. But what it means is that I did not have a whole sleeve of red skin. On my leg it seemed like my entire shin and calve was involved, and my entire belly was involved. But Dr. R said he was glad to see a lot of healthy skin."

Nummular means "Coin shaped" and people with nummular type TSW have circles of rash rather than the overall redness that most of us get.

I find this exciting and great news for those that have the nummular type because their withdrawal may not be as severe as the full-body type.

I have mentioned this before, but my husband also went through mild TSW because he used to help me apply the steroids to my back and hard to reach areas. He got bad rashes on his hands and when he stopped using TS they got worse, with horrible cracks. Thankfully, after months of TSW he has recovered and his hands are normal. The TSW was only ever localised to his hands and never spread any further than his wrist, which makes me wonder whether he had a very mild form of the nummular type.

I think that it is wonderful that not everyone gets the full body type, as it may be a little ray of hope for those starting TSW that they may be in the 1 in 10 that does not go full-body and heals quicker.