Kava Dermopathy Pics

[kavalover]

There's been a lot of talk of kava dermopathy and infividual experiences with it but nobody has ever actually shared a picture of how it affects them as far as I know.

When I get the ole dreaded dermopathy, it first effects my eyes. They get very dry and irritated but not too bad, maybe a bit watery which can get irritating but I don't stop drinking kava at this stage. The next stage is my hands, this is when I quit, because it's actually painful. It starts as a dryness then the skin cracks and gets so dry that any friction will cause them to bleed. Any lotions or balms make the wounds sting horrendously so they are out of the question. Hell, even touching them becomes painful. I'm experiencing this now, so I know, I've pushed a bit far and need to give my body a few months break from this root. Here are some pics below. Though, I'm about 2 weeks into recovery from it. they looked much worse a few weeks ago.

^See how red they still look, hot to the touch and friction is an absolute PLEASE NO. lol.

 

[kl.el187joker]

Damn do you toss and wash or just hit it hard ore every night.

 

[The Kap'n]

Yep. That looks familiar. The ole "dude why are your hands 50 years older than you are?" look. The dermapothy I've gotten on my back was just what you described, terrible. You can wet your hands and run them down your back and your hands will be coated with skin flakes. It's terrifying really. I've strained and its mostly gone away. Hands still look 80 and dry. I've found a daily vitamin will help although not enough with heavy dermopathy.



Just out of curiosity, do you take any type of Prilosec or Prevacid (or generic omeprazole)?

 

[Prince Philip]

Thank you for providing this valuable resource. Your sacrifice in the name of science is noted.

 

[mos3z]

Luckily I haven't had this yet, I take high doses of omega3 daily so maybe this helps? I also don't do toss n wash.

I've been drinking kava daily for 8 months now. I do have eczema on my hands that seems to act up sometimes after squeezing.

 

[ObiWan]

kavalover, do you use latex gloves when squeezing  the Kava? Before I used a glove my hands were much dryer.

I wonder if the dry hands are a result of the body being dried out (caused by the diuretic effect of the Kava) or a direct result of the Kavalactones doing 'something' with the skin.

 

[Ed!]

Wow, I'm glad I haven't experienced this. I drink liquids constantly throughout the day, so hopefully I'm immune!

 

[kavalover]

@el187joker - Depends on the brew, if it's micronized or very fine I'll just toss and wash. Either way, though, I still tend to drink quite a bit lol.



Kapmkrunk - haha yeah, the "80 year old hand look" is definitely a good description. I take multivitamins daily when recovering from dermopathy, it definitely seems to help although will not reverse the condition by any means. The only thing to do is wait it out which can really suck. As for the medications no I don't, the only thing I take in conjunction with kava is milk thistle and a vitamin D supplement once a week.



Obiwan - Actually yes I do use latex gloves when squeezing, that was my initial thought as well, that maybe the reason my hands were so badly affected was due to the bare kneading, however I achieved this state of dermopathy without ever touching the root or root juice with bare hands. I don't think it's mainly a condition from dehydration (although that probably doesn't help anything lol) but it is definitely the kavalactones as I'll paste a little passage below.

Kava drinkers are thus sometimes recognizable by their bloodshot eyes and ulcerous skin. These symptoms occasionally are wrongly diagnosed as ichtyosarcotoxism, or ciguatera (fish poisoning), which is an occasional health problem in the South Pacific. Such reactions are only found in heavy drinkers and can be attributed to the properties of kava's active constituents, lactones. The lactones in kava are related to sesquiterpenical lactones - "allergens capable of causing severe eczemas... what provokes the aggressiveness of these substances is the presence of an alpha-methylene-butyrolactone group which enables them to attach themselves to the skin proteins thus easily forming complete antigens, which are responsible for the series of biological reactions, which finally lead to the state of allergy" (Benezra and Dupuis 1983). Skin lesions, called kani kani in Fiji (Frater 1952), disappear if kava consumption is reduced. Kani kani seems to affect only those drinkers susceptible to the allergens.

From "Kava, the Pacific Elixir", p.60

 

[kavadude]

Oh man! I personally am lucky I don't get this. I do get really bad dry, cracked lips after drinking kava for several days which is my cue to stop.

 

[kl.Jerome]

I used to get that bad when I drank way too much way too often as a much younger kava drinker. I just don't enjoy drinking that much kava anymore. But I definitely remember my hands looking just like that.

 

[mos3z]

I'm curious, do you think that could be just extreme dry skin? the pics on google of dermopathy look different to me. more scaly.

i get extremely dry skin, even before kava, to the point where it is cracked an bleeding

 

[kavalover]

I'm curious, do you think that could be just extreme dry skin? the pics on google of dermopathy look different to me. more scaly.

i get extremely dry skin, even before kava, to the point where it is cracked an bleeding

I have never had a problem with dry skin or even acne before, this condition only started up after I began drinking kava heavily. Kava dermopathy could be more idiosyncratic, causing a varied appearance amongst those affected, or simply that I stop drinking kava before I reach that bad of dermopathy. Some of those pictures look absolutely terrible lol.

 

[Buddhacide]

Dang if you posted this two weeks ago I'd have some gory pics. I'm mostly on the mend now after a bit of a hiatus but I was getting it bad on my hands and feet. Really uncomfortable. kapmkrunk recommended O'Keefes balm, which I got the foot version of. Its helped a lot.

 

[kavalover]

Dang if you posted this two weeks ago I'd have some gory pics. I'm mostly on the mend now after a bit of a hiatus but I was getting it bad on my hands and feet. Really uncomfortable. kapmkrunk recommended O'Keefes balm, which I got the foot version of. Its helped a lot.

Oh I wish I had. It was terrible. Two weeks ago however I was busy with work and traveled for some family issues. I'm afraid it was on the back of my mind and for the most part, I just wore gloves with bandages underneath lol. I had almost thought I had been stricken with leprosy haha. I'll have to try out that balm, but fortunately right now, I'm almost all fine. My hands have returned to normal, but the strangest thing. You know how after the initial terrible effects of a bad sunburn wear off, and you're left with dead skin flaking off in an itchy mess. Pretty much the same thing now on my hands.

I can only wonder how bad this condition can truly get, if one kept drinking the kava. I don't ever plan on finding out, personally. (smiley: smokin)

 

[Prince Philip]

Me before kava

Me after kava

Worth it?  Oh, yes!

 

[Buddhacide]

kavalover wrote:

Dang if you posted this two weeks ago I'd have some gory pics. I'm mostly on the mend now after a bit of a hiatus but I was getting it bad on my hands and feet. Really uncomfortable. kapmkrunk recommended O'Keefes balm, which I got the foot version of. Its helped a lot.

Oh I wish I had. It was terrible. Two weeks ago however I was busy with work and traveled for some family issues. I'm afraid it was on the back of my mind and for the most part, I just wore gloves with bandages underneath lol. I had almost thought I had been stricken with leprosy haha. I'll have to try out that balm, but fortunately right now, I'm almost all fine. My hands have returned to normal, but the strangest thing. You know how after the initial terrible effects of a bad sunburn wear off, and you're left with dead skin flaking off in an itchy mess. Pretty much the same thing now on my hands.

I can only wonder how bad this condition can truly get, if one kept drinking the kava. I don't ever plan on finding out, personally. (smiley: smokin)

I went on a trip to El Salvador in November and it got really bad when I was there, bleeding and cracking. I had to wrap it in a tensor bandage around some guaze for 2 or 3 days while I was on these excrutiating long tours. The other other tourists were asking me questions about it. Very few places in the world that "Kava Dermopathy" would fly as an easy explanation. I just said I had a sore and didnt elaborate, lol. 
  
PS, I know what you mean about the leprosy/flaking skin. I got it so bad. Really hard not to pick at.

 

[Nihilist]

I wish I could drink that much kava haha.



I've never had any problems even when I was drinking it everyday. It's only been 1-4 times a month lately.

The winter months are probably worse for skin conditions anyways.

 

[Dan]

I've had mild dermopathy on my feet and ankles this winter and found this to help quite a bit.  No stinging, either.

 

[mos3z]

i have eczema and found a great soap that helps a lot, its called grandpas pine tar soap. its a strange smell somewhere inbetween a campfire and burning rubber, i love it but my wife cant stand it. The best lotion ive found is from shikai called borage therapy dry skin lotion, its expensive but really amazing.

 

[kl.kavashmava]

Prince Philip, that is very scary lol

This is a side effect  i also got and  forgot  to mention on my previous post. I got it worst on my lips.  Not only did they really crack and bleed, but I got these little bumps like cold sores. I didn't know at first what it was, but as soon as I decreased the amount of Kava I was drinking, it's miraculously went away in 2 days. I assumed it was the dehydration issue.  Anyways, I used Emu Oil on it, and that helped heal the dryness.