steroid injection site deformation

I had a steroid shot on the right side of my butt about 7 months ago for a back injury. The bruise went away in about a month. There was no pain involved after the injection. About 3 months after the injection I noticed a divot or a dimple appearing at the injection site. NOW....it's a huge crater measuring about 1/2 inch deep and a couple inches in diameter. There is no pain, but it's UGLY! Why did this happen?

Not sure. It could be a bad reaction to the shot.

You really should see a doctor about this to make sure it's okay.

my daughter has the same thing.. but we are not sure what has caused this.. I was hoping to find some photos to see if this is common or if it is the same thing.. but I can't find any.

i just developed the same thing a little while after a cortisone injection. the doc said that it is typically due to a high dosage of the injection and the cortisone literally eats away the cellulite in that spot. the divot will always be there but he said that it will fill-in a bit over time. he said that there is nothing you can do but it should improve a bit.

i have also developed a "divot" in my buttocks that seems to get larger and more painful with time, my cortisone injection was over a year ago and at first all i had was a little skin discoloration and that soon developed into a little indentation that since has greatly increased, i am now having pain in the injection site that seems to travel down my buttocks and leg, my doctor thinks i'm crazy, i had a very small dose of cortisone, not enough to really make a big deal over and no one seems to be able to help, they said it won't go away but why would it continue to get larger, it's almost as if the substance is sitting there eating away at the fat or muscle that is in the area.....pretty soon it'll be so deep that maybe the skin will pull back together! lol not too funny, it's ugly, if anyone knows of anything or any way to possibly correct this please HELP!

The previous entry is correct in that the divot is caused because the cortisone injection eats away at the cellulite. It sounds like your injection might have not been put in as deep as it should have. It would make sense that the cortisone eats away at cellulite because I don't get a divot on my shoulder when I get a shot of it there!

Peggy Lee wrote:

I had a steroid shot on the right side of my butt about 7 months ago for a back injury. The bruise went away in about a month. There was no pain involved after the injection. About 3 months after the injection I noticed a divot or a dimple appearing at the injection site. NOW....it's a huge crater measuring about 1/2 inch deep and a couple inches in diameter. There is no pain, but it's UGLY! Why did this happen?

It is so strange because last summer (2007) I had this horrible allergic reaction and caused my entire body from my neck down to break out into a rash. I went to the doctor and it was so bad that they gave me two anibiotic shots on my left buttock and two steroid shots on my right buttock. Well, I noticed immedietely that there was a white skin discoloration on my right buttock exactly where the shots were given. A few days later it became a small indentation. Today it is about two inches wide and an inch deep!! It does not look good at all. Now that I have been reading these quotes, it is pretty amazing to me that doctors do not mention any type of side effect or possibility of a reaction from injection to their patients. My other buttock is just fine but the one with the steroid is somewhat distorted looking.

I've been reading all of your posts and wanted to let you all know that I am experiencing the same thing. I had a steroid injection 6 months ago. At first it just bruised, then turned into strange dotted scabs, then it started sinking. Now I have no fat tissue left and the skin is the whitest of white. The skin is very sensitive to touch, and it causes pain within my hip now. I am going back to the doctor today at which the shot was given. I spoke with another doctor friend today just to ask him if this were a mistake made by the nurse, or if it was something that can't be prevented. They said that it has happened to other people as well and that it is just a reaction to the shot. No matter what the cause, at this point, I just want it fixed and I don't want to pay for it. The point is, at the time of injection, we should be made aware of the possibility. I was not, as I am sure none of you were either. We are not doctors, therefore we put our trust in those who've studied in that area to look out for us. They didn't. I plan on having this doctor send me to a dermatologist for treatment, and i do not expect to pay for any of it. I'll let you all know how it goes, as well as what they say is the cause.

I got a steroid injection on the top of my buttock about 2 months ago for leg pain and just recently noticed a huge dent at the site of the injection. It's awfully wide and deep, i wasn't told at time of injection that this was a side effect, if i had been told i would have decided to just take the pain killer shot and not the steroid as i was given two diffrent shots that day. I am very sadden by this. i never thought that the sittuation would lead to a deformity. I am going to the doctor tomorrow and seeing what i can do to take care of it, but as i have heard before there is not much one can do to get rid of this.

I had the same side effect almost exactly 6 months after and the injection was in my hip. I now look completely different on that side, the indentation is about 3 inches wide and very deep. I was not informed of any side effects other than a possible immediate allergic reaction of hives and had I known there is no way I would've gotten the injection. I would've kept taking over the counter medicine for the once-in-a-while pain I get. This is not a minor side effect, it has caused a major change to the appearance of my thigh and hip area and I have spoken to many others who have experienced the same side effect. I think we should definitely be informed of this prior to consenting to the treatment. My dose was supposedly low too, but you wouldn't know it looking at the site on the hip now!