TOPIC: PMMA Nodule Info Thread

Thanks restoration for your reply. Man you've been through the wars.

I can't believe how good that latest scar looks. It seems to have healed very quickly.

I saw that you tried DMSO a while ago. For how long did you stick with it?

The 'Urbason 40mg' I was given does not have the same active ingredient as Kenalog. So it's not the same but it could just be a similar drug which 'works' in the same way. Fingers crossed.

I've just ordered dmso and expect to start using next week, unless anyone advises me to wait a while first.

Thank you so much for posting this, Restoration. I am currently on week 4 of Round 2 post OP from Dr. C. I had about 9cc of 30% LinneaSafe. I currently have 6-7 nodules of various sizes and hardness.

Yea, the scar looks pretty good... I'm shocked how that came out given everything else. I couldn't stick with the DMSO because I had that open wound...so I didn't use it long enough (a couple weeks?) - and then I went to have a minor excision of two nodules ( a few mm each). One ended up never healing and causing all the mess that happened. I would've just kept using DMSO if I thought I even had a 1% risk of something like this happening. I'd never heard of wound separation and I knew nothing about chronic wounds. And, even if I did, who would think that a non-smoker in his 30s with no health issues would have a non-healing wound? Anyway, stick with the DMSO and let us know. The more people who have success with that, the better.

Thank you Restoration. You have added more value to this forum than everyone else combined over the past year.

I really hope your recovery is going well. You have gone through quite an ordeal yet managed to stay on the right track regardless of how rough things got and some of the nasty characters you had to deal with. I am confident your perseverance and commitment to the truth will serve you well in the future.

Thanks for the info - do you know if she used Kenalog-10 or Kenalog-40 and how much?

I got one mark after Kenalog too. It might fade - but it takes a while.

How did the material come back together "in one piece" at the end? Did she put more PMMA in or simply just break things up? Yeah, it sounds pretty brutal... I am surprised that a blunt cannula can pass through / break these at all. Was she using a thick, sharp needle?

I've been working on pathology stuff with regards to my PhD for the last year. My original thought when I saw those pictures was "holy fuck, that's a lot of PMMA in that tissue"

I just want to update on my experience with nodules and lumps.

I've now had 2 treatments with Dr N where she has broken up the lumps with a cannula and then injected with Kenalog.

My lumps have reduced in size to the point that you wouldn't really notice them. In general I'm pretty happy with the results.

I should note that the treatment is really quite brutal. It sounds like smashing through pieces of hard plastic and grinding them up. My penis was swollen and purple for nearly 2 weeks after this treatment. If this type of breaking up is needed to reduce lumps, I'm not surprised that regular dermatologists have been unsuccessful when simply injecting Kenalog without the 'breaking-up' part.

Also of note is that previous to the treatment I was using DMSO. This may have helped the effectiveness of the Kenalog but it's hard to be sure either way.

I now have some little white circles. I think they are hypo pigmentation. An area of the skin has also gone slightly brown in color, kind of like an age spot or something. It's not ideal but overall I am happy that I proceeded with this treatment.

I hope this is helpful for others with lumps and nodules.

I'll add my experience here in case it's helpful for anyone. I also have some questions of my own.

I had round 3 with Dr C. 3 months ago. 11CC of 30% and 4 CC of 10%. I gained quarter of an Inch. Happy with the result but I got nodules at each of the 4 entry points.

Wade suggested to wait 2 months and then review it. After 2 months 1 Nodule disappeared completely. 1 became smaller and the other two stayed the same. Two of them are like little metal ball bearings. They're small but really hard. The third is soft and probably the size and shape of a squashed pea.

All 3 of these lumps/nodules are very close to the surface. They feel like they're on a higher level that the rest of the PMMA. I can hold each one in my fingers and pull it away from the shaft.

Wade recommended to break up with cannula and inject with Kenalog or just surgical excision. I decided to visit Dr N. as I'm in Ireland and it's a lot easier for me. I saw her 2 weeks ago and she broke them up with a cannula and treated them with 'Urbason 40mg'. I'm not sure if she injected into the nodules or just around. She recommended to do 10 minute gentle massage of the lumps twice a day for the first 2 days and once per day for the next 5 days.

So far the lumps look very slightly smaller, perhaps a bit softer. They're a long way from being un-detectable but she has told me the treatment will continue to work over the coming weeks.

I'll update on my progress in case it is effective and can help others. I have some technical questions if anyone is able to help:

1) what is this Urbason 40mg. Is it like a Kenalog?

2) would it be safe for me to try DMSO now? I feel I should probably wait till the Urbason has finished working which Dr N. Said would be a 'few weeks'.

3) does anyone know where I could get a Kenalog injection in the UK? I'm sure this would be more effective.


Photos are before treatment. Dr N was great by the way. I really liked her and felt very comfortable. I am however considering a mad 2 day mission to Tijuana to get these kenalogged or removed surgically by Dr. C.

Thanks guys. I've been meaning to write this for a while so people can get all the answers as possible in one place with this relatively common problem. The majority of the time, I believe people will just have injection site small nodules, so I linked to DWD's old thread on that too.

I left out all the Kenalog and 5fu dosing info, but it's in my journal and also it's unreliable anyway. I got virtually no results from 20+ injections over many weeks. I am skeptical of those injections - not only based on my response - but based on the slides. The PMMA isn't going to break up from Kenalog or 5fu. That only affects human cells.

I hope other people who have had these problems can add their thoughts too. Some of this is fairly theoretical. I'm kind of making my best guesses at the "5 categories" - it's really from my reading this forum (journals of others) and personal experience.

My scar from the surgery 3 weeks ago is really looking good. I'll post some pics later. I have to consolidate my journal page. It got too spread across other threads.

I just came across this and thought it was really interesting and might help people on here.
It was written by a woman who had PMMA injected in her face (Bellafill) and developed nodules and redness on her face where the PMMA was injected. She did some research and found that sugars and foods that cause inflammation were tied to her nodules. When she changed her diet, eliminated sugars and took antioxidants her symptoms greatly improved she said. She did not post a follow up but these are the supplements she listed that she was taking that caused her symptoms to improve. I will email her and see how she is faring, this was 4 months old.

The idea that inflammation causing foods could be tied to Nodule formation does not seem off base. I know collagen supplementation has been discussed on here, but not reducing the cellular inflammation that might be impacting Nodule formation. Cellular inflammation has been tied to dementia, so it can lead to serious negative outcomes.

I read an article a month ago that said the 3 most important supplements you need to take if you were going to keep it just to the essentials were Fish Oil, Magnesium, and D3 - all of which are on this list. I have also seen Alpha Lipoic Acid added to to this list as well.
Her routine was:
________________________

-2000 mg fish oil
-good quality multivitamin (taken as directed on the package)
-400 mg magnesium
-750 mg curcumin
-5000 IU vitamin D3
-1200 mg tart cherry capsules
-12 mg astaxanthin (I may reduce this a bit just because it's a VERY strong antioxidant and I could probably get by with a lower dose)

One more thing - if you drink sugary soda, stop or cut back drastically. I love it and used to drink a lot of it, but have realized that more than a little makes my face flare up.

5-FU is highly toxic how much you were you given? This dna polymerase inhibitor is nasty stuff, I've seen what it does. Where's senior EP when you need his opinion...

Wow the photos of the patients in that paper are very scary !

Very nicely presented!

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3865975/

Scroll down here and you'll see:

The exact dosage is 0.5 mL of 50 mg/mL 5-FU, 0.3 mL of 10 mg/mL triamcinolone (or 40 mg/mL triamcinolone, depending on localization and degree of inflammation), and 0.2 mL 2% lidocaine with adrenalin. The injection amount is between 0.1 mL (tear trough or lips) and a maximum of 0.5 mL (in the cheeks) per nodule. In all cases, the patient should maintain disruption with home massage


I got a red, oozing spot from one of these injections. It's in my journal. It eventually cleared up within a week. Biafine helped it.

I think that's just Kenalog 40. If I could read German I would have a better idea but it's listed with other similar steroids. If that works it would surprise me. No doctor I saw would inject Kenalog 40 or try breaking up the nodules. But removing a module caused an epic disaster so I think just be patient with if it isn't bothering you too much.

Doctors don't like injecting steroids due to Atrophy risk. I'd rather have Atrophy than what I do now...though I assumed I'd only have a small hairline scar without skin loss