Getting Paranoid about Sarcoids please help

[Ziggy_]

Around last christmas time my horse developed a bald patch on her chest about 1" in diameter - at the time i thought it was some sort of rub from her rug/stable door so i ignored it until the skin went scaly and the hair never regrew when i realised it might be an occult sarcoid. then she developed a similar patch on her flank about 1cm in diameter or less in february.

well today when i was grooming her i felt a tiny, tiny little lump on the side of her knee. I picked at it a bit thinking it was a scab, but when it wouldn't move i parted the hair and i think its a tiny round sarcoid. it looks like theres another flat one developing on her flank too.

i've been told unless there likely to cause problems (ie in saddle area or similar) its best to leave well alone as treating them can cause others to appear or cause them to come back in a more aggresive form, but I'm horrified at how fast they seem to be appearing although there all tiny and benign looking.

Is it time to get the vet and ask about treatment or better to leave them, or try a cream such as camrosa? We already go mad with fly repellent every day.

 

[ajn1610]

Ring you vet and ask their opinion. As the creams are just topical treatments they wont stop any new ones appearing really. If they are small and out of the way I'd leave them alone. My vet told me the small ones don't respond terribly well to treatment anyway. The occult ones aren't usually that much of a problem.

 

[YorkshireLass]

Leave them alone unless they are rubbing on tack etc.

Any sort of treatment can stimulate more to grow. Removing them will not stop more growing if that is the hand fate has dealt. If they are removed, chances are there will be scars, so no advantage.

When the summer coat comes through people notice the sarcoids that have developed over winter. It is not that they are popping up madly, just that they have been hidden by fluffyness.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

s&a - just a lay opinion based on my experiences. To get some background: some patches that look like sarcoids ARE sarcoids but some aren't: if it IS a sarcoid, some are nasty and some aren't. My vets told me that the current thinking is if the vet THINKS its a sarcoid then treat it as if it is, but not everyone agrees on this. If you leave some true sarcoids alone, they never grow any bigger, never interfere with tack, never spread and the horse dies of old age before they ever become a problem. Some though, get raised and ulcerated and nasty and can spread (flies suspected) or interfere with tack. Any diagnosed sarcoid can affect the sale value of a horse. Now, my veteran boy had 2 suspicious lumps pop up on his face about where the cheek piece of the bridle comes. I was instantly suspicious as that's one of the sites you might expect a sarcoid to appear since the skin can already be affected by rubbing over the years (so flies attracted etc etc). Vets came out. Said the thing about treating them as if they were sarcoids (even though I don't know if they were) and ned had 4 applications of Liverpool cream, a few days apart. Worked a treat. Sarcoids gone. No recurrence {touches wood}. About a year after that, I noticed a couple of bald scurfy areas under ned's mane. Not a place that's subject to rubbing or fly attack so I watched carefully. They didn't really change but didn't go away either. So I did some asking around and some web research and I got some Thuja cream (30c potency) and applied that. The patches disappeared in a few weeks and again, haven't returned. If I were you, I'd try the Thuja cream route since your ned's patches don't sound a cause for concern yet. My guiding rule is always: First, do no harm! Thuja cream is exceedingly mild (I've used it on my hand!) and is homeopathic so works with the body. Even if it doesn't cure the problem, you won't have aggravated the patches any more. Veterinary procedures like freezing or surgical excision can indeed aggravate an aggressive sarcoid. A word of advice: look up the previous thread on here about Camrosa before you decide to use that on a potential sarcoid. I'd also recommend looking up Prof Knottenbelt's definitive article on sarcoids in horses. If you want the address of where to get high quality 30c Thuja cream very reasonably, PM me. Hope you're still awake and this is of some help. x

 

[ChristineCorp]

I've had the same, neck and elbows mostly. My local vets encourage homeopathy for such things. I used thuja, both topical and internally and fed lots of garlic. Thuja is tree of life and will drive out the virus. After a while I alternated between thuja ointment and calendolon cream to keep the skin supple.

After 6 years they've never come back.

 

[cazmoreton]

had a horse a few years back with a few he was on dodson and horrel sarcoid mix.

 

[Gorgeous George]

George has a small one on his belly and it is currently being treated with the Liverpool cream, although it is small it did start to increase in size and the vet and Liverpool Uni advised that it be treated as soon as poss as it was easier with smaller ones. Also because the vet had looked at it my insurance will only cover me for a yr for sarcoids now it has been diagnosed so i thought I would go for the expensive treatment whilst I am still covered. But who knows if I've done the right or wrong thing.