Hello everyone, I am just wondering how many people here have heard of, or suffered from, Equestrian Cold Panniculitis?
For those who don’t know that cold Panniculitis is:
Cold Panniculitis is an ‘acute nodular erythematous eruption usually limited to areas exposed to cold’.
A few years ago I was working at a farm throughout the winter. At this farm it was frowned upon to wear snow pants. So I didn’t. I started to get what looked like bruising on my thighs. The bruising turned itchy and painful, and bloody. After seeing many doctors a biopsy was completed and it was revealed that I had Cold Panniculitis.
The way my doctor explained it to me was that it was inflammation of tissues due to prolonged exposure to extreme cold. It is often found in young children, obese women, and equestrians.
Yes, I had this for a couple of years running until my dermatologist figured out what it was. She gave me some steroid-based ointment to apply at the first sign of recurrence. This keeps it at bay for me.
Both my sons had it on their cheeks when they were little. When it happened with my older son (after walking the dogs in the winter), we went to several doctors until we got referred to a dermatologist. She explained it as “like butter getting hard in the fridge”, followed by inflammation.
Apparently young children have both more subcutaneous fat and a different structure of fatty acids, so they get it more easily.
It was not extremely cold when they got it, maybe around freezing, but there was cold wind going.
It went away by itself, didn’t require treatment, and hasn’t recurred since. Both kids now wear balaclava-style hats in the winter though instead of just hats with earflaps.
