Leukoclastic vasculitis

I am a heathy 28 year old women who was recently diagnoised with leukoclastic vasculitis (confirmed by a punch biopsy).  The only symptoms that I have had have been the red bumps and swelling of my ankles and fingers.  Even at the peak I have not been sick or exhibited any other symptoms (never a fever).  I am currently taking 40 mg of prednisone once a day for the last two weeks.

Unfortunately there is not a lot of information on the Internet about Leukoclastic Vasculitis and I am very scared that something else could be wrong.  I have two questions.  The first is would a skin biopsy reveal that the vasculities is also in my internal organs (Wegener's, Churg Strass or others) or does a diagnosis as Leukoclastic Vasculitis mean that it is centralized to my skin.  My second question is what in the world could be causing this?  All auto-immune tests (lupups, etc) have come back negative and my red and white cell counts, urinalsys, CBC and all other blood tests have been normal.  Further I have not taken any medication in over a year and have not had a cold in a while.  Basically I just came down with this and now am very scared that it could be something internal such as cancer.

Thanks for your help

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

You really should be directing these questions to the doctor who did the biopsy and made the diagnosis.

Still, if all your blood tests are normal, that would argue against any kind of internal involvement or more serious condition.  Certainly cancer is not at all likely.

Your condition--inflammation of the superficial blood vessels--is an uncommon one, but not an especially serious one.  It's only natural that you should react to getting something that comes out of the blue by wondering why you go it, but there usually is no explanation.  Still, that doesn't mean it's bad.

You should ask your doctor to clarify the diagnosis and his or her reasons for not being concerned about systemic disease.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff