steroid injection site deformation

I had a cortisone shot about three months ago and I have a light skinned divot near my elbow now. They had to wiggle the needle around due to nerve damage which the process was extremely painful. The bruising didn't go away for about three weeks, I am a college athlete and I was in too much pain to compete for a full two weeks after the injection, it was even difficult for me to drive and write after the injection. Now I get random sharp pains, even when I have tried to stay inactive. Please help on what course of action I should take, see another doctor or even bone and joint care pills etc?

I searched skin indentation and found these posts.. I have the same thing on my buttocks..and it's getting deeper and wider as time goes on.. no rash no indication.. I did have a shot last year and now I need to go find out what exactly what was in the shot.. I know it was a steroid shot but she gave me two different kinds? I don't remember where she put the needle? I agree someone should know by now this is a possible side affect.. l believe this is very serious.. I mean who wants a huge dent in their body anywhere? If we have this problem we can't be the only ones? Thanks for sharing.. now I am not so scared and freaked out!!

Tell me? if we were super models and our butts were insured for a million dollars... would we be told we just have to live with cave ins in our butts?

Peggy, I have the same thing! Has it gotten better in the past year? What should I expect?

I have also developed the crater kind of thing on my left buttock.  I had SI cortisone injections 8 months ago. The spot appeared a month or two later.  My massage therapist noticed it, and agrees it has gotten much bigger.  I am wondering if muscle has been "eaten" too?  Underneath the spot, 2"x 2" at least, is just bone.  Ugg.  The pain dr. who injected me told me that he had never seen anything like it before.  Any hope?

I have been told by my doctor it is called Fat Necrosis. Nothing can be done, but it should fill back in within a year. I have the same thing on my left hip where she gave me a steroid injection for back pain. Well, a few weeks passed and then this divot appeared and I have horrible pain in that hip. Not a day goes by that I am without pain. She tells me that the shot didn't cause the pain, that I pulled an tendon in my SI joint. I say BS. I am going back to her this week. I want an x-ray, ultrasound, MRI or something to tell me what the heck is going on in there. I am a runner and I run at least 3 days a week. I usually run 3 miles give or take how much time I have. I have not let this pain stop me from running at this point and in fact it seems to help reduce the pain on the days I run. I hope we all can solve this mystery. Does anyone else have hip pain with their divot? My pain is in the very same region as the shot I received.

I have been told by my doctor it is called Fat Necrosis. Nothing can be done, but it should fill back in within a year. I have the same thing on my left hip where she gave me a steroid injection for back pain. Well, a few weeks passed and then this divot appeared and I have horrible pain in that hip. Not a day goes by that I am without pain. She tells me that the shot didn't cause the pain, that I pulled an tendon in my SI joint. I say BS. I am going back to her this week. I want an x-ray, ultrasound, MRI or something to tell me what the heck is going on in there. I am a runner and I run at least 3 days a week. I usually run 3 miles give or take how much time I have. I have not let this pain stop me from running at this point and in fact it seems to help reduce the pain on the days I run. I hope we all can solve this mystery. Does anyone else have hip pain with their divot? My pain is in the very same region as the shot I received.

I have just noticed the same dent 5 months after my shot. It is very painful. I am not sure what to do, I went back to the doctor band she said there is nothing she can do! Does it fill back in over time?? I can't believe they can get away with this! I was never notified of this side effect! 

I'm dealing with the same thing. I had a steroid shot several months ago, to help with an allergic reaction. And now there's a painful crater on my rear. It's a deep pain, like a deep bruise that won't heal. Hurts to press on it, and seems to look worse/larger every week. This is ridiculous. They treated me with something that caused a worse reaction than what I had in the first place!!

HI jmacy, I to am haveing this same problem its been over a year now with to many other symptoms to mention What I am left with as of today is muscle atrophy of the gluteus maximus muscle its gone and not activating,right now I am going to pt twice a week and receiving e stim treatments with exercise. it is helping a little but not much as of yet. I also workout with weights. my pt says that it will take at least a couple years to recover. I have severe nerve pain that runs down my leg and weakness in hip due to no muscle. I take a lot of suppliments drink lots of water, cry and pray. between the pain and the disfiguerment life has been hell! I was in very good physical shape before this happened. Ive been working out for 7 years to manage fibromyalgia,polynueropathy etc. kenalog made everything worse! This will take a lot of time so just try to be patient, dont give up, and keep searching for answers,

I'm just wondering if anyone who posted here several years ago has had any luck? it would be nice if they would come back and share their journey and just update us on how things are going shed some light on all of this, give us some hope ANYTHING!!!! :)

I had two Kenalog injections into my foot about a decade ago. Within a month, the fat pad on my foot started to atrophy and the top of my foot looked very slightly sunk in at the injection sites. The fat pad atrophy is permanent. Fast forward to today, and I have one area where it's just skin over bone (no more muscle or soft tissue there). I have muscle atrophy, fat necrosis, weakened tendons/ligaments, nerve pain, and decreased bone mass/bone necrosis; my other foot looks normal. I'm in pain all of the time and can't walk much.

I am so angry that the doctor didn't bother to tell me that there are possible side effects of Kenalog, and I'm upset that he used Kenalog on my first visit. We think that he was only interested in the money. I complained that my other foot had an ache, since I had to bear more weight into it at the time, and he wanted to inject my uninjured foot with Kenalog as well as give my injured foot a third injection...what the heck? You dont' inject a patient's foot just because there's a little temporary pain. Other doctors told me that I shouldn't have had those injections. My foot would have healed on it's own (from a minor injury), but the Kenalog impeded its healing and caused damage to my foot. I just want my foot and my life back! Was the money worth it, doctor, for the pain and suffering that I live with? Jerk...that's putting it mildly.

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune, and everyone else's for that matter. You say there's been no improvement in much of the tissue atrophy at the injection sites. Can you please tell us if there's been any regeneration of your skin at the sites? I.e., if you experienced skin thinning, viens more apparent, hypo/hyperpigmentation, did these symptoms improve over the 10 year period?

Thanks for your concern. I also feel awful about the people who have had problems following their steroid injections.

My skin has always been intact, yet it is a bit thinner on that foot than on the foot that did not have Kenalog injections. But I had also received iontophoresis and phonophoresis treatments after the atrophy from the Kenalog had already started, and I found out later that the meds used for those treatments contained a steroid, so that may have also contributed to thinning of my skin. I don't notice that the veins are more prominent. Within the first couple of months of the injections, I noticed a small red spot and a whitish discoloration at the injection site, but that went away. The fat pad thinned out and stayed that way; the fat pad in the foot cannot grow back.

I'm not trying to scare anyone, but please be aware of any chronic, long-term pain associated with the steroid injections, and please try to find out what is causing that pain. Many doctors want to dismiss steroids as the cause of problems (they use it in their own practices). If the steroid doesn't reach bones, cartilage, tendons/ligaments, or nerves, then that is a very good thing. Hopefully cosmetic fillers will help the people who have indentations in their hips/buttocks/arms/etc. I'm not sure what can be done about the muscle atrophy, except to keep active and exercise to maintain muscle tone as best as possible.

I've had that shot a few times and it happens every time. They go away every time after some months.