sarcoid - Re-appearing?

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Kraft

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My horse had a sarcoid under his stomach (on the left hand side, about 20 cm back from where the girth goes). It was about the size of a 50 pence peice and about 1 cm deep. My vet put a band around it about 18 months ago (during the winter, to stop flys), It feel off, the hair never grew back on it but it cleared up ok just leaving a scar.

During the last month the skin on the scar has started to go flakey and the skin breaks open, leaving it looking quite red (does not seem to irritate or hurt my horse).

He has only ever had the one sarcoid and non any where else.

Just worried it could be growing back, anyone have any thoughts - i really dont know much about them?
 
They can come back, but be positive as not always.

You could try a hypoallergenic sun block as protection if you can get the skin to heal with an antiseptic ointment.

As the strong sun on the skin might be the cause. Good Luck with your boy.
 
The problem with sarcoids is that they can come back, or not as the case may be. I'd strongly recommend that you google Prof Knottenbelt's definitive guide to sarcoids and print it off to refer back to. Some sarcoids are just things that LOOK like sarcoids eg warts etc. Some sarcoids ARE sarcoids. Most sarcoids are relatively benign and don't spread but invasive methods to get rid of them eg excision, freezing etc can cause them to become far more aggressive. My vets say if it looks like a sarcoid then treat it as if it IS. Sunny had a small sarcoid on the side of his face and it was successfully treated by Liverpool cream. Liverpool cream is very toxic so needs to be applied by your vet, with 3 to 4 separate applications a few days apart. Sunny never even noticed it was being treated and I continued to ride him with a piece of sheepskin sewn over the bridle area. He has since developed a tiny dodgy patch underneath his mane where he has a whorl in the hair. Didn't like the look of it but at the same time it didn't look like a sarcoid. I did some research and decided to try Thuja cream at 30C potency. You can get it from pretty much any health store. I have applied that on several occasions over the last 2 years and it always clears the funny patch up. You have to remember though that it might NOT have been a sarcoid. That's the problem with them.

Back to your ned. If the vets were sure that it was a sarcoid before, I'm a little surprised they opted for such an aggressive approach. I thought that starving the growth of blood and nutrients with a band would have been more usual for warts or angleberries. Anyway, if there are signs that something else is growing there, I'd maybe try Thuja cream first but if you're in any doubt, call the vets and ask for Liverpool cream. It has a very high success rate. One thing to be cautious of is to rub any sort of cream in that says things like "encourages skin growth". Sarcoids are a form of skin cancer where the cells grow out of control so the last thing you want to put on a sarcoid is anything that might trigger further growth. Prime offenders are tea tree and aloe vera shampoos/creams/gels - keep them well away.
 
the vet is coming out today, and want to try a cream called "Blood root", never heard of this but will post on Monday and explain how it works etc.
 
You can get tincture(liquid) of Thuja, that you can give orally and rub on growth. I have had success with this. I get it from Folklore practice in Suffolk.
 
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