All About Shelby - Pictures of the Rash

Here are some photos of the rash that was present on Shelby's knees, hands, and elbows. She also had a short-lived rash on her inner thighs, but that didn't last long once we started using the steroid cream. She still has evidence of the rash, but it is much better now. The rash was most painful on her hands, because she developed scabs directly on her knuckles. The beds of her fingernails were also very irritated and scabbed over. Before we knew what she had was JDMS, we were treating these areas with Triple Antibiotic cream. We took this pictures shortly after coming home from the hospital in late March 2000.

It's been over a year now since Shelby started treatment for JDMS symptoms. She still has evidence of the skin inflammation although overall it's not as severe as it once was. I will be adding new pictures as soon as I get them developed to show progress over the past year. Note in her journal - After starting Colchicine in April she developed a new area of inflammation on her upper arms. Shown below are Shelby's school pictures, the first from 1999-2000 school year, the second from 2000-2001 school year, the third from the current year 2001-2002.

(see above) Shelby was diagnosed with JDMS 7 months after the 1st picture was taken. The second picture is how Shelby looked after 5 months of treatment. The Prednisone is responsible for her "moon face" look and the obvious weight gain.

Now, November of 2001, Shelby has lost much of the roundness in her face. She's pretty much back to "normal" as far as we can tell. Her skin still shows evidence of active JDMS but not nearly as severely as before.

Shelby and Sheridan, August 2001	Shelby at Jazz/Tap Dance Class, October 2001
Shelby and our dog, Layla, September 2001