These photographs show tophi removal without surgery.
Tophi are deposits of uric acid crystals that grow under the skin. Though they are a warning sign of gout, they can appear before patients experience typical gout joint pains. Then, they will eventually grow through the skin, with associated pain and risk of infection. Also, left untreated, they will spread to other tissues, causing organ damage including kidney or heart failure.
But, you can use drugs for tophi removal without surgery. In that way, you avoid risks associated with surgery. Also, you dissolve invisible uric acid crystals hidden in joints, etc. So, with the right uric acid lowering treatment, complete gout removal is a few months away.
I’ve selected this as my best tophi picture. Because it shows how tophi can be removed without surgery if uric acid can be reduced to very low levels.
Tophi Removal Photograph Details
These two photographs are before and after images from a gout patient who received five infusions of Krystexxa (a brand name for pegloticase). 5 infusions of 8 mg every 3 weeks mean this gout sufferer experienced almost complete tophi removal in 3½ months.
The photographs are from Treating gout with pegloticase, a gout study from M S Hershfield and colleagues, in 2010[1].
Pegloticase infusion rapidly lowered mean PUA [Plasma Uric Acid] to [less than] 1 mg/dL in all patients, and PUA remained low in 16 of 21 patients who completed treatment.
Though Krystexxa is only normally available for patients who cannot tolerate allopurinol or Uloric (febuxostat), maximum doses of these frontline gout treatments should achieve similar results, though it may take longer.
If you want to achieve tophi removal without surgery, modern uric acid lowering drugs are your best option. They only work if you get uric acid down to 5 mg/dL, but if you can go lower, tophi will resolve faster.
Get treatment for gout to remove tophi before your hands look like this!
Leave Gouty Tophi Removal without Surgery to read Best Tophi Picture shows the greatest Tophi Treatment.
Tophi Removal Without Surgery References
- Hershfield, Michael S., et al. “Treating gout with pegloticase, a PEGylated urate oxidase, provides insight into the importance of uric acid as an antioxidant in vivo.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107.32 (2010): 14351-14356.
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