As you will soon discover, the doctors do not all agree on what medications to use in treating Degos disease.
However, many patients are taking aspirin or other blood thinners such as Trental (Pentoxifylline).
Some have been prescribed immunosuppressants to tame our unruly immune systems (eg Ciclosporin).
As people contribute to this site we will develop a list of treatments tried, which might help new and existing patients and their doctors. Please help with this: it’s the first time anyone has tried to collate all this information!
List of treatments and medications
- Ciclosporin A
- Aspirin
- Dapsone
- Ketanserin
- Ibuprofen
- Mesalazine
- Amitriptyline
- Gabapentin
- Cyclophosphamide
- Prednisolone
- Carbamazepine
- Plasmapheresis
- Human immunoglobulin IgG
- Dipyridamole
- Lovenox
- Trental
- Plaquenil
- Plavix
- Actos
- Avastin (anti-veg F)
- Lisinopril
- Tylenol
- Fiorict
- Syosporn
- Steroids
- Trepostinil
- Eculizumab (Soliris)
Because most patients initially present with skin manifestations, they typically are seen by a dermatologist, at which time a diagnosis usually is made. The skin lesions are not painful, usually do not itch, and generally do not require treatment. Patients who have gastrointestinal or neurological symptoms should undergo an appropriate workup to detect systemic disease, which is an important determinant of prognosis.
No successful medical therapy for DD is known. Antiplatelet drugs (eg, aspirin, dipyridamole) may reduce the number of new lesions in some patients with only skin involvement. Some believe intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) may have a role in treatment. Other treatments that have been tried without real effect include the following: topical corticosteroids, phenformin and ethyloestranol, iodohydroxyquinoline, aspirin and dipyridamole, phenylbutazone, arsenic, sulphonamides, dextran, corticosteroids, heparin, warfarin, niacin, streptomycin, adrenocorticotrophic hormone, azathioprine, methotrexate, cyclosporine, tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, pentoxifylline, and clopidogrel.
Surgical Care: When gastrointestinal bleeding, intestinal perforation, bowel infarction, or intracranial bleeding occurs, proper surgical intervention is necessary.
One patient has been treated with Nictoine Patches, as described in the paper A case of malignant atrophic papulosis successfully treated with nicotine patches.
In one pediatric patient with advanced CNS and GI disease, treatment with the anti-TNF drug infliximab (Remicade) and with the angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab (Avastin) were unsuccessful.