Biopsy

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Awaiting results of temporal artery biopsy. Have swollen eyes and face - is this common? 

Not feeling to perky today.

2

HI Jan, 

Sorry to hear you're  not feeling too chipper. I had the biopsy in July and although shocked at the length of the cut (why did I assume it would be a punch biopsy??) I had no swollen eyes or face...just a nasty cut and stitches with a bit of bruising.  Hope it clears up for you soon. Best of luck. x 

3

Are you on pred in the meantime? The high doses used in GCA can cause fluid retention around the face and I noted in the literature that GCA itself can present as facial swelling.

One of the hospital information sheets in the UK mentions sleeping in a more upright position to reduce any swelling. To some extent it depends on what structures they had to move around during the op - there is almost always some swelling to be seen post-op.

4

PS - have you tried holding a bag of ice (always wrapped in a cloth so it can't burn your skin) over the swollen area for a while?

5

Hi,

It happens, be patient.

Good Luck

CW

6

Thanks for the comments - not on high dose prednisone yet. Dr is awaiting biopsy result.  Feeling a bit better this morning so hopefully on the mend. Thanks 

7

If you have any visual symptoms of any sort please make sure you get to a doctor and are given high dose pred immediately. If GCA is a reasonable suspicion there is no reason to hold back giving pred even until the biopsy is done. Once it is done you should be on at least some pred.

Hopefully it isn't GCA - but even if the TAB is negative that doesn't mean you don't have GCA - it just means they didn't find the giant cells in the particular bit of artery they looked at. It doesn't affect arteries evenly and not even necessarily the temporal artery - it just happens to be easy to get at and biopsy.

8

Hi Jan37704,

I had a Biopsy on my left temple. There was no swelling by eyes or face. It did start to itch when it started healing. I was on 60mg of Prednisone when I had the Biopsy. I hope this helps.

Enan

9

Sorry you are not feeling good, send positive thoughts your way, try and think positive with a smile. Good luck on the rest of your journey. 🙂