Dark spots on my wifes legs

I’m not sure what kind of issue this might be, but I know this is somewhat caused by my wife’s allergic reaction to foods we just recently found she is allergic to. Let me tell you a little bit about my wife. She is 100% Asian and was born and raised in China. We meet 4 years ago off the internet through Skype and recently just got married a year ago. When she first arrived to the US her legs were in fair condition, not very many dark brown spots. Now I will let you know that my wife previously was a model in China since she was 16 before coming to the US 4 years ago. She told me during the time she was modeling that she (of course) never had any issues with her skin; in fact she said her entire skin on her body was perfect, no blemishes nothing. Her completion has always been Type II – White skin, usually burns with sun exposure (fair; often in people with red or blond hair and blue, green, or hazel eyes).
When she first arrived in the US as I said above her skin was not that bad as recently is has gotten. She used to wear dresses, miniskirts, shorts and all the things many women love to wear. Until recently for I would say about a year ago it all started. When we first started noticing some very small spots and her having the allergic reactions to certain foods, we visited a dermatologist and she did an allergy test. We found that she in fact was allergic to a lot of things, foods, insects, tress ect. What was very ironic was she is Asian and she is also allergic to rice. After having the allergy tests done we have not been back to the dermatologist. They prescribed her some cream I don’t have the name of it at the moment, I can find out later if its need to be known. And to no avail nothing has worked for her. She has tried darkening skin tone lotions/ shea butter lotions she watches what she eats, not to eat anything she is allergic to. We have pretty much exhausted all possibilities to the point where I can tell she has gave up. She now only wears pants. The only time I get to see her wearing anything but pants is in the privacy of our own home. When we were dating she always wore dress ect. There has to be something that can be done to clear up her skin again. There has got to be some kind of lotion/pill/allergy shots that is out there. I have searched till the end of Google and get headaches from searching hours at a time to find my efforts are “Futile”. Please can someone help my wife in this endless unrelenting battle? I can get pictures to show any Doctor’s that would like to see what I have described and are referring to.

[Londres70]

Sounds like Melasma.  Is it just on her legs?  Is there anyway you can post a picture?  

What is the name of the medication she was prescribed?  

Confused.  Did she have some spots on her legs in China or not?  Do you live in a area where there is alot of sun?  

Is she taking any birth control or hormonal medication?  

[killahert]

Question #1
I looked at some pictures on google for Melasma and it does not look like that. Its hard to describe I will get that picture for you to see later tonight. This is mostly her legs below her knees, I forgot to mention that we recently had an issue with fleas in our home (we have 2 cats) and that lasted a few weeks, during that time this is when we have seen the most outbreak if you will of the spots. She would get bit and then it would swell up, it would itch ofcourse and she would itch it causing it to rupture and start to bleed. She used neosporin cream to help with the healing factor. It took about 2 weeks before it would finally heal because she would keep itching the bites. I will get a picture later tonight when she gets home from work. Her skin does not have any texture around/over these dark spots and it feels smooth in the transition from normal skin to these dark spots only visiable to the eye.

Question #2
I will have to get back to you on the prescribed medication.

Question #3
She did have some spots when she first arrived from China, but we were able to get a handle on things and get her legs cleared up 98%. We live in Florida very sunny but we dont venture much into the sun anymore.

Question#4
No she is not on any birth control or hormonal medication. She has never taken either from the entire 4 years since shes been in the US. We are currently trying to conceive.

Thanks for your responses!

[Londres70]

Post the pictures and I will take a look.  Get the name of the medication she has used.

Anyone in her family have problems with this?  

[killahert]

Here is a link to the pictures I took tonight.

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g407/killahert/

The perscribed cream that she used in the past was Cloderm (clocortolone pivalate) Cream, 0.1% from "Coria Laboratories, LTD"

She told me that her grandmother on her dads side of the family has allergies with same effects on her skin as my wife does.

[Londres70]

Definitely is a dermatitis.  Difficult to see the underlying problem with the flea bites.  

I would recommend asking for a Rx topical steroid cream (0.2%) and a topical antihistamine; NOT the topical creams OTC (over the counter).      

Does she wear any sort of sock or knee-high stockings?  

[killahert]

She does wear ankle socks for work and during the time she is at home she does not wear any socks. She does not wear stockings and hasn't in awhile.

[Londres70]

Make sure they are 100% cotton socks.  

Try the above recommendations.

All the best.  

[killahert]

Thanks for all your recommendations!! and thanks you for all your help.

[Londres70]

Try those medications and the 100% white cotton socks.  The medications would have to be prescribed by a Dermatologist or an Allergist.  

I hope the flea situation is under control.  

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms and picture it looks like post inflammatory hyperpigmentation after some sort of dermatitis/ folliculitis skin. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation is a condition where there is an excess amount of pigment following a disease process that affects the skin.

The treatment for post inflammatory hyperpigmentation includes various skin creams like hydroquinone ( with side effects), azelaic acid, corticosteroids, tretinoin cream and laser treatment. If it still persists then you can go in for laser treatment, Chemical peeling or microdermabrasion.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[alicia617]

Did you ever find anything to help with the spots? I have something similar to that on my legs. Thanks!