It was now one year ago when I discovered eggplant-colored spots on my body, which multiplied rapidly. I had developed KS, but the HIV cocktail (Kaletra, 3TC, d4T) reversed this and the spots reduced and started to fade. Due to severe neuropathy, I was switched from d4T to Combivir, and I still take Kaletra.

Question: will these spots fade entirely? If so, how long does it generally take? I have tried using skin cream to lessen the colour, but I can't see where it does anything. The KS spots are nowhere near as dark as they were, and they become smaller and flat (they were about the thickness of a dime).

This is minor compared to what some go of our friends go through, and I apologize for taking your time for something that might appear to be trivial.

Thank you for your assistance -- and your expertise.

Brian

Dear Brian: I'm happy that it seems that you are responding to your HIV medicines. KS lesions, when they were active, are filled with blood. When KS lesions die off, the blood turns to a compound called hemosiderin, which causes the brownish pigmentation which you are describing. I imagine that in time they will fade more. How much fading and the time course for this fading varies from patient to patient. As a general rule-of-thumb, the longer you had the KS prior to HAART and the more severe it was, the longer it will take for your lesions to fade. Several of my patients do indeed use cosmetic cover-ups. You mention that you haven't had great success with them. You might want to explore different cover-ups. As for your comment about this being trivial, I take the brownish pigmentation quite seriously. It serves as a daily reminder of KS to so many of my patients and perhaps to you. I'm hopeful that in time your former KS lesions will become less and less.