by Caroline Fife, M.D. | May 19, 2025 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum
I felt guilty the day I decided I could no longer prescribe opioid pain medications to patients with severely painful wounds. I didn’t prescribe narcotics very often since that’s a bad way to treat any chronic pain, but it is sometimes necessary in acute vasculitis...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Mar 31, 2025 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum
If you are a wound care practitioner, I guarantee that you have seen pyoderma gangrenosum (PG). And no matter how attuned you are to the disease, I guarantee you have missed some — because I have. The number of “head slap” moments I have had about PG is...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Feb 21, 2025 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum
Check out this fantastic review article about pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) by Dr. Alex Loayza and colleagues from the Oregon Health and Science University’s Department of Dermatology. Dr. Loayza has been incredibly generous with his time and expertise when wound care...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Oct 29, 2024 | Pyoderma Gangrenosum
Caputo and Colleagues recently published a case report in JAMA Dermatology Clinicopathological Challenge, “Peristomal Erosion in a Man With Crohn Disease.” It’s available open access. The case is of a man in his 50’s with a 10-year history of Crohn’s...
by Caroline Fife, M.D. | Aug 16, 2024 | Fight the Good Fight, Pyoderma Gangrenosum
I have a special interest in Pyoderma Gangrenosum (PG) because once I learned the clinical characteristics, I realized that PG is incredibly common in wound center patients –although sadly, it is uncommonly diagnosed. These patients suffer terribly because they get...
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....
