The first cut is the deepest

- Cat Stevens

On Thursday I had another biopsy of the rash on my shins. This is the second biopsy that I have had in the past year. The aim of these procedures is to determine what kind of rash I have and whether it is caused by an auto-immune condition.

The first biopsy was taken on two scabbed over sores on my right leg. It was a very strange appointment because when I first walked into the procedure room they wanted to perform the biopsy on my arm. It caused a mild panic when I told them that I had never had a rash on my arm. To compound the problem the doctor who ordered the biopsy was not around that day. Finally, they dragged in a flustered looking dermatologist who gave me the once over and decided to proceed on two scabs on my right leg. Looking back on it I probably should have walked out at this point. It was clear that nobody in the room had the slightest idea what the purpose of the biopsy was. I didn't walk out though; I just let them punch two holes in my leg and stitch me up.

A few weeks later I received the results letter in the post. The letter was written in the usual medicalese jargon that only somebody with ten years of training can truly understand. After much translation I can sum up the findings of my biopsy as follows: I have a scab on my leg.

There was also a note from the dermatologist restating that he had requested the biopsy in my arm.

I promptly called and cancelled the follow-up appointment.

Fast forward nine months and was sitting in a consultation room with a Bechets specialist. The Prof looked over my notes, rashes and all the pictures that I had taken with me to the appointment and told me "you don't have Behcet's disease". This wasn't news to me; I was pretty certain that my symptoms didn't match those of Behcet's. As she filled in the paperwork to send me back to the Rheumatology department the Prof decided to have a dermatology colleague take a closer look at the rash on my leg. She was pretty sure that the blistered, weeping sores on my legs weren't just your everyday scabs and that an autoimmune response was causing it.

The new dermatologist could not have been more different to the first one. He was very excited about my rash and used a lot of strange new words to describe it. I was immediately whisked off for a full on photo-shoot. No kidding! A photographer, screens, big lights.....the whole shabang! It makes me smile to think that my legs might make it into a pre-med lecture or two.

I had to wait for a couple of weeks for my biopsy appointment. Once again it was very different to the first procedure. The staff were super organised and had very clear instructions on what they were doing. They had all my photoshoot pictures up on a screen when I walked in; unfortunately they weren't as glamorous as I had imagined. The whole procedure took about 30 minutes. No punch biopsy this time, they took a slice out of the rash. I asked if I could see the biopsied flesh when they had bottled it up - it looked like a really small sliver of ham. They stitched me up and put a good dressing on the wound.

This morning I got to take the dressing off and have a shower. The wound is not sore but it is a bit itchy. It will be several weeks before I get the results. I am hoping that the result will tell my doctors a bit more about my autoimmune condition but I'm also prepared for the news that it's just a scab.....

Leg Biopsy