by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 10, 2023 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum
In January, I asked for your help with a survey about amputations due to pyoderma gangrenosum (PG). Thanks to all of those who responded, and my apologies that I am asking you to do it again. Let’s just say that there were technical difficulties with the survey (not...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Jan 12, 2023 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
In my 30-plus years of practicing wound care, I have developed an unwelcome amount of experience with Pyoderma gangrenosum. It’s not been uncommon for me to have 8 patients with PG at any given time (and I’m sure I’ve missed some). PG can range in spectrum from a...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 30, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is an inflammatory skin disorder that causes excruciatingly painful skin ulcerations. It’s supposed to be rare, but it’s only rarely diagnosed. At any given time, I will have 8 or 10 patients with PG in my practice. Biopsies fail to diagnose...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 18, 2022 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
This is a story that only happens in the world of chronic wounds. It illustrates why wound care practitioners need to keep asking “What is this wound a symptom OF?” It also illustrates why patients often get worse care as a result of medical specialization because the...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 28, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
An adult patient with severe cerebral palsy developed several pressure ulcers after hospital admission for pneumonia. This one has persisted for many months. While it’s possible that the trauma that initiated it was a pressure injury, this is pyoderma gangrenosum....
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 27, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
39 y.o. woman with a non-healing left anterior shin ulcer which had been present for a year after minor trauma. Her father and her daughter have autoimmune diseases but she has no such diagnosis, nor does she have joint pain or bowel problems. The wound began as a red...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 24, 2021 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum, Uncategorized
I am going to post a series of patients with confirmed or presumed pyoderma gangrenosum, most of who’s biopsy findings did not confirm the diagnosis. However, their response to a trial of prednisone was dramatic and the wounds closed with prednisone (or in some cases,...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 23, 2021 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
I have an entire clinic full of patients with pyoderma gangrenosum. Nearly all of them were missed at other wound centers. I am going to post a series of PG cases in hopes that the information will help clinicians and patients identify this disease which is not so...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Sep 9, 2019 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum
Pyoderma Gangrenosum (PG) is one of the most painful wounds we see each year. It is called a “rare” disorder with an estimated incidence of 3 to 10 cases per million people per year.(1) That would mean there are about 20 new cases of PG in Houston, Texas each year....
