Skin test may predict Lou Gehrig's disease

Status
Not open for further replies.

Lorie

Senior member
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
551
Reason
Loved one DX
Country
Uni
State
Alabama
City
Mobile
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Simply pulling the skin and seeing how quickly it returns to the body may help doctors determine whether a person has Lou Gehrig's disease and how fast it will progress, according to research reported at the American Academy of Neurology's annual scientific meeting in Seattle.

Read Full Article:

http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/01/eline/links/20090501elin021.html
 
back in xmas 2007, over a year before her diagnosis, i noticed my mum's skin looked very thin and almost translucent. recently, i thought it had something to do with diminishing muscle-mass under the skin -- but this is interesting because it says the nervous system and skin are derived from the same embryonic cells.
 
I was pretty upset for a couple of years before I knew I had a problem. My skin was feeling different and not so great to look at. Just not as elastic. I stopped wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts. I first went to the dr because I wanted to start an exercise program and get my body back in shape. Very interesting.
 
That is very interesting. I had not noticed any difference until I was just in the hospital when it became increasingly difficult for them to find a vein, my skin is now so thin. I thought it was just my muscles wasting away. I am late 50s yet my skin looks worse than my mother of 90.
 
Same here, when I first read this story, I told my husband that I had said that from the get-go.. I was in extremly good shape, and my skin started to look like I was 90.. I had a doctor tell me that it had a problem about 5 years ago.. Wow another thing explained. This disease is just rotten to the core.
 
This makes me think about the two elderly sisters with ALS who the researchers used to create defective cells from....it seems like the article had said that it was their skin cells that were used for this.

As for me, my skin seems the same, other than I noticed starting last autumn that the skin on my lower legs began to show increasing fine wrinkling. I attributed it to dryness, and then as my legs got weaker, I've begun to think maybe my calves are shrinking, so my skin was/is getting baggy. :confused:

Its probably yet another example of how so many aspects are only typical for some people with ALS, and because there is more than one cause for it.

I remember reading (about a gazillion years ago now) how a person could test how well their skin was aging by pinching up the skin of their elbow. It pointed out that young children's skin snapped back into place so fast that one almost can't even see it. And, the older anyone got, the slower this action became. My kids were young at the time, and after I shared this, they took great pleasure in sneaking up on me and pinching the skin on my elbow.:mrgreen:
 
I haven't noticed anything different with my skin quality that can't be attributed to aging ... but, like Rose, I note a patch of skin on my calf that is covered with very fine wrinkles, and I assumed, like Rose, that this is possibly a sign of early atrophy.

With age, I've lost the subcutaneous fat that gives younger people such nice smooth skin, so I think this makes the edges of my atrophy more clearly defined. And if my skin is thinning, too, that would also contribute.

I've never mentioned this to anybody, because it sounds so wacky ... I think I can see a different color (greyish) on the atrophied muscles. I don't know if muscles change color as they die, or it is the shadows on the "scoops" or if I'm completely out of my mind. Maybe all three. :) It is particularly noticeable on the web betweem thumb and index finger and my forearms. This is truly yucky.


Speechless in L.A.
 
My wife's skin looks just as good it has always been. In fact, she looks much younger since she got the Vent about two months ago eventhough she can only move her limbs very little. Diagnosed April 07.
 
One point I forgot to mention, is that pinching of the skin and a slack response and return to normal is also a regular basic test for dehydration in any age, even in babies...perhaps that is also part of the problem we are all experiencing||||
 
I don't know if I buy this skin test thing. I haven't noticed any significant changes.
 
Yes, age has also a great deal to do with the degree to which skin will fall back into place. I'm assuming the researchers controlled for age and took similar aged individuals and found a difference between ALS and a control group. The problem is that the link does not specify the type of instrumentation they used, so we don't know how the skin test was conducted. I'm sure the academic article on which the Reuter's report is based would have that information.
 
pretty interesting. I had thought I had vascular issues due to skin issues on my lower legs. My hair fell out along the path of the fasciulations as well. This sure beats being stuck with those darn emg needles.
 
Hi Jaded...thanks for writing about the lose of hair, where you have fasciculations. I had written and asked anyone if they noted hair loss with their muscles atrophy, but no one had.

Now I know I'm not nutty! (I think) :)

I hope you're having a good day!

take care
lovelily
 
Update on Skin Test and ALS

Loss of skin elasticity goes along with ALS

From MDA/ALS News Magazine June 2009

Dematologist Harvey Arbesman of Williamsville, N.Y., and colleagues, found that skin elasticity was significantly reduced in 40 ALS patients, as compared to a control group of 30 unaffected family members.

Hiroshi Mitsumoto, an MDA research grantee and MDA/ALS Center director at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, was on the study team.

The researchers used a device called a Cutometer, which noninvasively measures the extent to which skin returns to its original position after pressure is applied.

The ALS and control groups were evaluated at baseline and three months later, with skin measurements taken on their arms and back.

At the start of the study, skin elasticity in the arm was significantly less in people with ALS than in the control group. Skin elasticity on the back was significantly correlated with disease progression in the ALS group, becoming less elastic as scores on the ALS Functional Rating Scale and respiratory capacity declined.

The researchers noted that the central nervous system and skin share the same embryologic origin and that many diseases affect both systems. They said further studies are needed, but that skin elasticity could be a valuable, noninvasive way to help detect ALS and assess disease progression.
 
Skin elasticity? My deltoids, traps, biceps, and triceps are all atrophied to the point that it looks like my skin is stretched over a skeleton. Without all that muscle underneath the skin, no wonder elasticity is compromised. BTW, my skin is the same as it's always been. When people meet me for the first time, they think I'm in my early to mid 40s. I'm 53. Sounds like another fishing expedition.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top