{"id":11947,"date":"2016-09-02T20:59:15","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T20:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/?p=11947"},"modified":"2016-09-02T20:59:15","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T20:59:15","slug":"what-is-causing-my-hiv-partners-skin-to-darken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/11947","title":{"rendered":"What is causing my HIV+ partner&#8217;s skin to darken?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>Hi there,\n<\/div>\n<p>Thanks for all of the detailed information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It&#8217;s great that your partner was able to start treatment and that you are seeing a big improvement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Although a handful of ARVs have been associated with pigment changes, these don&#8217;t include the ones you have listed your partner as taking. This does not mean that the ARVs aren&#8217;t causing the skin darkening, but that more investigation is needed. It could also be caused by something completely unrelated such as a low level of vitamin D. Unfortunately, this is best explored by a supportive doctor and well connected health system which is something you are struggling with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It&#8217;s therefore best to provide as much clear information to the doctor\/clinic as possible. This could be by taking photographs in the same light over time. You will also benefit from tracking any changes together, in case it regresses on it&#8217;s own. Using photographs may also help with any language barriers or doctors that aren&#8217;t very good at communicating verbally and you have a record in case you want to go to a new doctor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hopefully this will start to help you and your partner feel more in control of your health and please get back in touch if you need anymore information.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My partner was diagnosed with a very low cd4 count of 6 back in May 2016. We lives in Vietnam and having very difficulty in finding experience HIV doctors or treatment centre. Anyhow; he was put on ARV therapy starting in June so it is slightly over 2 months now. He was very sick prior to treatment, but now we see a huge improvement.<\/p>\n<p>We recently noticed that his skin has turned darken like as if he had had a tan or something. He did not go outside or exposed to the sun very much. Is this a cause to concern or is it a common side effect of the ARV? please help.<\/p>\n<p>The ARV therapy he is on is one tablet daily contaning: Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300mg; Lamivudine USP 300mg; Efavirenz USP 600mg.<br \/>\nHe is also on Itraconazole 100mg ( twice\/day with a total of 4 tablets) ;<br \/>\n                      Cotrim 980mg once \/day<br \/>\n                      Vitamine B complex<br \/>\n                      Ferrovit (iron tablet) twice\/day<br \/>\n So is his darkened skin a cause for concern? we asked the doctor at the clinic where he receives his treatment, but he isn&#8217;t really answering. Communication between doctors and patients here is almost next to non-existence or very poorly explained. It is expected that patients shouldn&#8217;t ask questions, but just taking treatment from doctors as is. I am not sure if the doctor is not familiar with the problem?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16,38,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-drug-interactions","category-side-effects","category-starting-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}