Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Impetigo Shmetigo


Look, I am no medical expert, and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express(if you don't live in the U.S. look on YouTube) last night, but I think there is something more seriously wrong with Amy Winehouse than a case of impetigo. Now, it is possible that due to her notoriously bad hygiene that she is simply suffering from the longest and worst case ever of the disease. Does anyone else other than myself think this could be some other type of more serious infection or the result of a more serious infection?

Those are some truly awful scabs and such, and to me they do not look like the photos of impetigo I have looked at. Again, not a medical expert, but with all the drugs and cuttings, and other things Amy has done to her body, maybe she has something else she is not telling us about. Maybe she should because this is getting out of hand.

50 comments:

Unknown said...

doesn't this happen to crack addicts?

YahMoBThere said...

Looks like meth face. I was thinking AIDS, but, no.

Kristen S. said...

Methamphetamine basically crystallizes under the skin and makes you itch something fierce, so much that you scratch and pick at your face. I believe some other drugs have the same effect.

La Tanguerita said...

well, i don't know.. looks like a very bad case of acne to me.

captivagrl said...

those are some nasty sores.

jax said...

is Amy the HIV+ singer who had an abortion?

those lesions (sp?) look suspect.
that ain't acne.

Ror said...

Ummmmmmmmm.....it's called METH people! !

I had Impetigo when I was a kid. This is NOT that. Impetigo is a thick, dark brown scab that forms on the skin. More common in children than adults.

Call a spade a spade. She's a user, duh!

Little Miss Smoke and Mirrors said...

I've seen impetigo, and that's not it.

YahMoBThere said...

Jax, I was hoping you'd weigh on on this. My first thought was that they were lesions caused by HIV. Then I thought of meth face.

You know more about this stuff than I do...what are you thinking? Could they be lesions from AIDS?

YahMoBThere said...

Ror, which 'people' are you giving the 'duh' to, since nobody here said it was impetigo?

mamamia said...

Hey there - long time reader - once upon a time poster - under mamamia or kacie - but it's been a long time - anyway, thought I would put my two cents in here. Unfortunately, I know a lot of people who have fallen under the meth spell and I would have to agree with Kristin S. on this one. Looks like Amy's got it bad and needs to try rehab again.

Rocky (Racquel) said...

def looks like meth face. check these examples from partnership for a drug free america:

faces of meth

OG Gossipmonger said...

she said no, no, no!
TOTAL methface!!
I bet she spends hours picking at those things with safety pins & sh*t.
also, tried youtubing the holiday inn express commercial, no luck!
:(

I'm a long time lurker, I've posted a couple times & have never introduced myself, so HI! I'm Lynne! but I'm a different Lynne than the other one I see post occasionally. I don't want to change my name, but I will, any one know how I could do that?

Ror said...

TS- Read the damn article. At least read the damn TITLE of the article.

And, other sites are reporting the same thing.

http://www.tmz.com/2008/03/18/omg-what-is-wrong-with-her-face/#comments

mamamia said...

I'd like to change mine too and can't quite figure it out. Please help! Thanks.

mamamia said...

Nevermind - somehow I changed it to mamamia which is what I wanted all along. This is probably why I stopped posting way back when... sorry

YahMoBThere said...

Ror, I read it. When you address your post to 'people', it usually means you're addressing the people posting. Should I add a duh to that?

Lynne and Mamamia, I think you have to create a new gmail account. I don't think there's any way to just change your name.

OG Gossipmonger said...

okay, this is Lynne, I DID IT!
pat on the back for me.

Anonymous said...

I wouldnt blame AIDS or meth too quickly. I mean sure, she's probably on every drug known to man, but impetigo can be treated with antibiotics straight to the face, which is probably why it looks like that, perhaps a salve of some kind.

Ror said...

TS- Notice how nobody else is confused by my commment but you!??!

Now, lets add a DUH to the end of your name!


moron

jax said...

must be spring break- all the dicks are out.

TS- not sure, skin issues can look a lot alike. Meth/crack heads and people in the last stages of AIDS look similar, sorry but it is true.
Not all cases but..it's Amy. Horrible to say but I have seen cadavers that look better than her above.
At this point if I had to guess I would say Amy is the HIV singer.

Mel said...

Kids...this is why you shouldn't do drugs!

MISCH said...

IMPETIGO IS USUALLY FOUND IN CHILDREN...IT'S A VIRUS...THEY GIVE YOU A SALVE AND AN ANTIBIOTIC AND IT'S CURED...ONE TWO THREE...SHE SHOULD BE OVER IT....

hunter said...

when you do a lot of drugs like crack, cocaine, meth and/or other (?) speedy brain drugs, a common side effect is the following:

You get all cracked out in the mirror picking at your face and turn tiny bumps into raging blistery craters of infections due to the cracked-out concentration factor.

It is a shame, but it is normal. Also due to compromised immune system (from drugs) this can take longer than normal to heal and repeat offenders (cracked out today, cracked out tomorrow...) are more likely to have the condition on a longer term basis because it never has time to heal

The Dude Abides said...

If her sores are AIDS-related, that means that she likely contracted HIV seven to twelve years ago. Karposi's sarcoma is pretty much end stage AIDS.

hunter said...

otherwise known as meth face

JeninRVA said...

(long time lurker - rare poster, hi!)

I agree with "the dude" - those type lesions appear at the end stages of AIDS.

I have wondered - with her history of self mutilitation - if one or two of the scabs weren't cigarette burns (especially that dark one on her cheek) or other self-inflicted wounds?

Amber said...

You can get impetigo at any age, it's just most common for children to get it. I really don't think it's (and hope it's not) methface. There seem to be rough patches along with sores.. she's had this for a while now right? It didn't just pop up within the last week.

jax said...

there are no certainties with anything discussed here. you don't have to be on your deathbed to get lesions and you dont have to have HIV/AIDS for 7-12 years before full bown AIDS happens. with Amy's lifestyle anything is possible.

Leah said...

I had a beautiful cousin who became a heroin addict. Her skin and pallor looked a lot like Amy's before she died.

She was only HIV+ for a few months before she died. Heroin usage plus HIV made her go down hill fast.

Tunapaw said...

I think it is impetigo, since she used so many drugs then she prolly isn't that adept at treating it regularly or the antibiotics aren't as effective because of the drugs.

D said...

For some reason, Ent's blind about the HIV singer comes to mind. Following the trail (if no protection was used), it would lead to Mark Ronson, Pete Doherty, Kate Moss, Blake Whatever... Probably half of the British jet set.

I don't know, does anyone have a link to that blind?

Protowife said...

I vote for Meth face.

Unknown said...

I too read that impetigo is common in children; it's developed only after the skin has already been irritated (itchy meth face?). AND it's contagious. I also read that people with poor nutrition get it and made worse by poor hygiene, which would explain why she has it.

Clair said...

I think it is impetigo and I think she got it because she bleached her hair. Kind of crazy but remember on America's Next Top Model when the house went crazy because Michelle the wacky wrestling bisexual had "flesh eating bacteria" and it ended up being impetigo! And she had her hair bleached blonde too! And her face looked just as nasty as Amy's. I am guessing because they use make up to cover it up being in the spotlight and all which like a normal person would never do. You'd put on the meds, hide, and heal, but those ladies gotta work. Amy is a total crack head, but she's got impetigo...deal with it.

Anonymous said...

@Jax I was thinking the same thing she is the one with Aids

RagDoll said...

I think this looks more like MRSA, the staph infection that is resistant to antibiotics?

The sores from people scratching themselves from meth or crack are more oval-ish in shape, more red... (the ones I've seen in person, anyway)

Tigercat said...

my first thought was the blind about the singer with HIV.

i hope for amy's sake that is not the case. but the language of ent's blind suggests something more serious. just sayin'. read it closely.

bionic bunny! said...

i read on one of the other sites last week that she had been in a restaurant smoking. after being repeatedly asked to put it out, she replied with several obscenities and crushed it out on her face. that doesn't explain the rest of the mess, and the pic that accompanied the story didn't look like a cig burn either.
i don't get the hair bleaching thing---i bleach my hair all the time, have even burned myself severely once, and didn't get sores like that.
the spot above her nose almost looks melted, like a skin graft. she's a mess.

J said...

I've had it and I really do think she has it, it started off small like it usually does and spread, it would spread if she's trowelling on that make-up over it unstead of letting it heal, plus its extremely contagious so it would spread with the wiping on and off of make-up.
And it does not heal in 3-4 days, I suffered with it for about 3-4 weeks ruined my birthday so it did.

Majik said...

Kaposi's Sarcoma...that's what it looks like to me. I'm not saying it is, but that's what it looks like. Unfortunately, that is almost exclusively an AIDs related ailment, and I agree that her lifestyle is definitely condusive to that.

brendalove@gmail.com said...

very alarming. I wish there was some way to help her.

Unknown said...

Is it perhaps, Scabies?

Unknown said...

I hope that it is just impetigo, but really whatever it is, poor thing just needs to focus on getting healthy, not going out to the waiting photographers with sores all over her face.

Rare Avis said...

Umk Hey all I have been super busy, so I am sorry I haven't been posting. I am close to being an expert. Funny how getting a degree does that to you.

What causes it? Bacteria, not a virus. Big, big difference. Bacteria are living, virus are not. Baceteria are say the size of the Empire State Building, a virus would be the size of a man standing next to the Empire State Building.

We normally have a flora of bacteria living on us. It's icky, but they are there.

Around 30% can have a type called Staphylococcus aureus hanging around our faces and in our noses. Aureus means golden in Latin. If we have cuts and scraps on us, like children commonly do, they can enter the skin and multiply. I mean multiply. If you have Impetigo caused by Staph. Aureus it will be golden colored. As in golden colored scabs. Lots and lots of scabs. The bacteria live in these scabs and are what makes it so very contagious. The bacteria are not airborne.

There is another possible cause of Impetigo and that is a different bacteria which is called Streptococcus pyogenes. This is what causes 'strep throat'. It is a far nastier creature than S. aureus. It is the cause of flesh eating disease. No, I am not making this up. Could she have flesh eating disease? Probably not. Hey the day is still young.

Impetigo is caused by being dirty, like little kid dirty, and scratched up. I think that this describes Amy WInehouse very well.

To answer Ent's question of 'does she or doesn't she?', my guess is no. Do you see golden colored scabs? Me neither. You have to scrap the scabs off before you put the antimicrobial lotion to them. Still, I don't see it. In either choice Impetigo presents itself as a oozy, pussy, & scabby.

Knowing this, do you think she has Impetigo?

Source for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptococcus_pyogenes

Sarah Blakeley said...

i've had impetigo recently... i suspect i contracted it at the gym and the marks on her face look exactly like mine did when covered with makeup. and it took like 4 weeks to go away....

RagDoll said...

Rare Avis:

I think it's way too difficult to tell solely based on paparazzi pics (especially now, reading Sarah's story--ugh, Sarah, that bites! I'm sorry to hear it. lazy gym staff not cleaning their dirty equipment..ugh)

BUT,

I sorta was thinking along your lines. Except I went full-on drama queen and guessed MRSA. The evil supervillain staph.

noel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
selenakyle said...

Nasty as hell.

But whatever it is doesn't quite look like scabies to me. (A family member crashed overnight somewhere and got them). Scabies is very hard to eradicate and very contagious.

Looks more like tiny red bumps and I only ever remember seeing one larger (still smaller than a dime) sore which was at his waistband so it got kinda irritated more than any of the other spots.

ANYhoo...y'all have GOT to go to Rocky (Racquel)'s Drug Free America methfaces link above...good God almighty!

Cake tons of makeup and permanent Sharpie ink over top of sores like those and no tellin' what kinds of infections one could get.

I also like the cigarette burns option, seeing as her arms are riddled with slashes. Girl's got "majah" probs, for sure.

Prolly has several nice maladies going all at once.

Yellow Rose said...

Gotta add my 2 cents. Although it's not likely this is what is going on w/ Amy-I had a HORRIBLE reaction to Cymbalta ("Depression hurts, Cymbalta can help" my ass).

I took THREE doses & started getting these huge, awful acne-looking lesions on my face, the skin on my face started to peel very badly, and was very red in the areas the skin peeled off. I looked horrific & was completely freaking out (& refused to leave the house.) I knew it wasn't acne, b/c I was in my late 20s, never had a problem w/ acne & after researching adult-onset of acne, realized it didn't fit or look like what was going on w/ me. It only occurred on my face, nowhere else on my body. My doc figured out that it was an extremely rare side effect to the medication (some awful type of dematitis-which is a very general diagnosis, but it was hard to determine what was going on & that was as close as we came) I stopped the medication IMMEDIATELY, and within days, the lesions began to heal, the redness disappeared & the peeling stopped.

My face looked frightenly similar to that picture of Amy-it was absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to use makeup to cover anything up.

Unfortunately, w/ her past history of drug addiction/abuse, I seriously doubt what's going on w/ her is a reaction to medication, but you never know. Had I left the house when all that was going on, I'm sure people would've unfairly judged me as a meth user, or been disgusted by what they thought was the worst case of acne they'd ever seen.

Just something to think about.

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