Adverse reactions to corticosteroid injections
This is a supplement to page 7 of The Resident’s Manual of Ultrasound-Guided Procedures.
Hypopigmentation
This was a patient that came to see me for a return of his right lateral epicondylitis symptoms. Apparently a physician he was seeing many months ago had blindly injected the right common extensor tendon 3 times over the course of a couple months in an attempt to treat his symptoms.
Don’t be like this. RVUs are not worth the cosmetic damages to your patient. These are sometimes permanent.
Fat atrophy (and hypopigmentation)
This was a patient that had gotten a triamcinolone injection to the right 2nd metacarpophalangeal joint who showed me her mild hypopigmentation and dimpling that developed 6 weeks after the injection.