i recently just had an iron infusion about two weeks ago and i immediately noticed that my skin has turned darker than it normally is. it was a 1000 mg of dark brown fluid and im afraid it has darkened my skin. my eyes have since turned brown too. is this something i shouldve expected and is it permanant? will i go back to my old complexion, if so, when? i have heard that vitamin c decreases the iron levels in your body, is this safe to take for my complexion to go back as i thinkthis is due to the increased iron in my body.
Is hyper-pigmentation after iron infusion normal?
Question posted by genies on 29 July 2015
Last updated on 26 February 2024 by Only1ria
24 Answers Page 2
Only1ria
25 May 2019
So many complaints about skin darkening. I only WISH I had that reaction to the transfusions being that I’m so pale. I will say, that I noticed a slight difference in my complexion. I went up maybe 1/2 a shade but that’s it. I figured that was my “normal” color. When you’re anemic, often times you are pale and lighter than your normal complexion.
Milly2014
2 April 2019
Hi, I had an iron infusion on the 21 March 2019, instantly notice my skin go 3 shades darker , and skin just looking really uneven and dry, it is really worrying me will my skin ever go back to normal, everyone here who complained the same please can you tell me if your skin has gone back to normal , thank you very much your response is very much needed.
Kimincarolina
19 April 2019
Hi Milly,
This happened to me two years ago and unfortunately my skin did NOT get better. It has remained a little too tan and it has gotten increasingly dry. Very dry. I also developed full body skin burning and allodynia three weeks post infusion, muscle spasms and muscle jerking. I still have the burning skin sensation and muscle jerking. I must have gone into iron overload. My life has been a disaster ever since. I am disabled now. Please get your iron levels checked right away and I would seriously counsel you to DONATE blood ASAP or ask your doctor for a phlebotomy as you are having a rare reaction which sound like iron overload. Each liter of blood is worth 250mg. So donate until the tan color is gone or until you reverse the amount they gave you. If you act quickly, I think you can reverse it. My doctor did do phlebotomy on me 2 months post infusion but I guess it was too late or not enough.
Having said that, I did meet someone else who was able to get rid of the tan color after a year but she had heavy periods. I am going to start doing phlebotomies now in hopes of getting some relief. Injectafer is dangerous. My iron levels weren't that low to begin with and so that must be why I reacted like this. If you develop pain, you should ask for steroids.
Kimincarolina
19 April 2019
I now know that there are much safer ways to raise your iron levels than infusions or iron pills. You can eat beef liver, take Vitamin C, cod liver oil, liver tablets. Iron is so toxic.
Milly2014
23 April 2019
Hi kimin thank you so much for your response, I can see that my skin is getting abit lighter now, however my skin is darker under the chin and my hands look so dry, especially the nuckles , my iron went to 7 that’s why I had to have it done , what was yours ? Wish I didn’t do it , but on a positive side I am feeling a lot healthier and stronger , whereas before I used to get so tired and have headaches , only other issue now is I get really bad indigestion? How is your health in general now? When you mean disable , what has happend to you, and was this all as a result of the iron infusion ?
Kaityo57
5 Feb 2019
I had a blood transfusion, 2 units, and several Venofer IV iron. I had a large buise on my upper arm after the IV was removed. This was after a knee replacement. This was 6 months ago. I now am suspicious that it could be an iron stain. It's embarrassing because it looks like someone is abusive to me. I am not sure what to do about it. As a nurse , I have given many IV iron infusions and never came across this reaction. As for giving it IM, I do know that there is special instructions so as not to stain the skin. It must go deep into the muscle. In our procedure manual that we keep at the station is how I learned to give it. I believe they called it a Z track injection. You must push the skin down close to the muscle and stretch the skin in the shape of a Z with your thumb and index finger.
St Nits
1 Nov 2018
I had Monofer Iron Infusion on Mon 15th October 2018. Noticed face darker two days later and got pimples as well. I’m treating the pimples but after reading your responses, I would like to know how long it takes for the skin to get back to normal. Has your skin colour come back without using any special products? If so, how long did it take? Please help. My confidence is at a low in terms of appearance.
Thank you for your help
Lofty25
27 Oct 2018
Yes I also would like to know people keep asking if I’ve been tanning
Jjli1997
11 July 2018
I just had 1 gram of ferric polymaltose infusion 2 days ago. I noticed my face color darkened from yesterday. My husband noted that too. I hope someone can tell me if this can gradually go away. Many thanks!
Ranadmaswadi
1 Feb 2018
Hi
I had a similar reaction too.
I had ferinject injection 2 months ago now. But unlike your history, I immediately developed severe urticaria and had to take several steroid injections to suppress the reaction. Same day and soon later I noticed my skin looked tanned. I initially had spots of darker skin, but eventually it evened out to become homogously ‘tanned-like’. Now two months later unfortunately I still notice that my skin is darker than before. I can easily tell the difference with my makeup and clothes and old photos.
Now I’m not sure if it’s going to go away at all. I haven’t consulted about it. Just thought I’ll give it Time. I just hope it goes away when iron levels even out.
Anyone with longer duration of such symptoms please give feedback.
Thanks
Pillarr1
20 March 2018
I had Infed on Thursday March 15 and 3 days later I noticed my skin was darker like a sunburn. Today is March 20 and no change. I did not notice this when I had Injectifer and Infed back in 2015. No one in my family said they notice but I do. I use hydroquinone on my skin and it was lightening up and evening out but now all of that is gone. I look like I am wearing foundation. I go back to my doctor in May so I will ask about it then.
KarenDP
23 April 2018
Pillar... same exact thing for me. I had an iron transfusion 1 week ago, I had been using hydroquinone on my face for acne marks and was evening out really well. Now, my face is several shades darker. I wouldnt have noticed except the foundation I normally wear was insanely light on my face; because of acne problems I am religious with the SPF so I am sure it's not the sun.
Day after infusion I was extremely tired/fatigued and could not get out of the bed. Since, I've had terrible back pains and this skin darkening. Other than that nothing.
dcba4321
3 May 2018
Mar 18, 2018 had infusion injectefer 750mg. My skin is 2 shades darker and I have floater in my both eyes. I feel little better energy wise but feeling like i made the biggest mistake of my life by manually injecting iron. Will it ever go back to normal. Especially my vision..Will the floater go away? Will my skin be back to normal. I hate medical field for pushing treatments to make money and not advising side effects.
Pillarr1
5 May 2018
It has been 2 months since I had my iron infusion and my color still looks like a tan. My husband said I was pasty looking before the iron and now I just have a normal color. It is definitely darker than I am normally. I stopped using hydroquinone after the iron but I started back up on May 1. I am black and light skinned but now I am a shade darker and I have uneven skin tone. The under eye concealer that I normally use is too light now. I go back for a follow up with my doctor on May 10 to see if my iron levels have improved or if I need more iron - say what?! No more iron please! I will also ask if he has ever heard of this happening to others.
KarenDP
14 May 2018
Please let us know what your doctor says; I dont go back until May 23rd and I'm curious if he'll have an answer. I'm also black with light-skin and the darker skin never went away. I would have understood this if I was severely anemic, but I wasnt. Only iron deficient (almost zero). My iron has been low for almost 4 years and I was never able to bring it back up after a myomectomy so I'm very nervous to see if my numbers look better this time. I have noticed other positive changes, so I wouldnt say this was a bad thing. I'm only concerned it could be a sign of something more serious.
Pillarr1
28 June 2018
It is now June and I believe my skin is back to normal. It gradually returned to normal beginning in April or maybe I just got used to the color. In early May I started using 8% hydroquinone and .25 retin a. My face has certainly lightened up since using those products. I asked my Hemotologist about skin darkening and he never heard anyone, doctor or patient, mention it. My dermotologist had never heard that either but suspects that it may be the result of too much iron at one time. I get blood work in August to see how my levels are. If they are low, i will ask to get a lower amount and break it up in 2 sessions instead of one.
BelleHarper
2 July 2018
I had an iron infusion last week. Well an attempted one. Took 4 nurses 8 times to get a vein and finally they thought they had one with a sonogram but they didn't. They started the Ifusion and then minutes into it my arm was painful and swollen like a baseball. They didn't have the vein after all and the infusion was just going into my tissues. The swelling went down in two days but now I'm left with a stained arm. It is 5 shades darker than my normal color and to me looks like I have lepracy! Please if this has happened to anyone does the discoloration ever go away?
Lorena7890
1 Dec 2018
Pillar, what exactly do you mean when you say your skin got darker? Was is it even, blotchy, coffee color, blue, green, etc.? I had two Feraheme infusions four days apart. After the second infusion my dad noted that the skin around my chin looked “blue” my coworker has also noted that my undereyes, forehead, and chin are darker. Did you skin improve? If so after how long? Thanks in advance for your help!
Pillarr1
2 Dec 2018
Lorena - my skin literally turned a few shades darker all over. Like I had been in the sun. No blotchiness or discoloration. My concealer was too light to use. It took a few months to get back to normal. It is now Dec. 2018 and I still have not had another infusion. My last one was March 2018. My labs numbers show that my iron is dropping but not low enough to get an infusion.
Lorena7890
7 Dec 2018
Pillarr, thank you for responding. I made an appointment with my dermatologist and I’ll see what he thinks is the cause of this hyperpigmentation. I’m sorry to hear that your iron levels are dropping. I’m sure you are already doing this since you’ve see a hematologist but I’ll still ask. Are you also taking folate supplements, biotin supplements, drinking orange juice with your iron supplements so it is better absorbed, not taking your iron supplements at the same time as your calcium supplements (if you are even taking calcium) to avoid poor absorption? Have you tried topical Iron patches to help alleviate side effects of oral iron supplements such as constipation? In my case all of this would help a lot within 3 weeks I would go from hemoglobin levels of 8.9 to 10 but then I would get my period and I would go back down. Hope this helps!
Pat-41
1 Feb 2017
Hello Genies, I received an Iron Infusion yesterday, Manofer I believe 1000mg too and I am seeing similar effects to those experienced by you back in 2015. My skin is turning darker (it looked like a nice tan before, but now is going a bit too dark), and even the white part of the eyes seems less white now. I was wondering if in your case, you finally recovered your tone and the eyes went back to their normal colour. When you wrote that post it was 2 weeks after the IV Iron infusion. Did the reaction finally subside? How long did it take? I am a bit worried and I'd really appreciate if you could tell me about your experience. I hope it all went well finally. Thanks.
If anyone else out there knows anything about this type of reaction to Iron infusions, any information will be much appreciated. I have called a 24h number from the NHS, and I spoke to 3 doctors, but none of them had ever heard about this type of reaction so they couldn't assure me it wasn't permanent. Thanks.
meme6195
4 March 2017
No- I also just had 3 treatments (over a 3 week period) of the iron infusions and my skin has also become darker. I look like I have a suntan- PLEASE, If anyone knows if the this go away, please post...
Thanks so much
Pat-41
12 March 2017
I can report that in my case, the skin came back to its natural color progressively. After about a week, it just looked like a nice mountain tan, as if I had just come back from skiing. That persisted for a few more days until it finally disappeared. The hematologist that performed the infusion couldn´t explain my reaction, and told me there were no cases reported in the medical literature since 1954, but based on what I am seeing on this forum, doctors are not that well informed. With regards to the eyes, they never came back to the same level of white, but they don´t look yellow either, they look fine. The doctor gave me a good explanation for that. It seems that highly anaemic people have the white of the eyes more pure, or even bluish, than non-anaemic people. So a higher level of iron has just made it come back to normal.
What is surprising in my case, in addition to the pigmentation of the skin initial reaction, is that 39 days after the infusion I seem to be again low in iron and ferritine. I still need to confirm that with the blood test results, but given that after multiple tests I didn´t seem to have any loss of blood, I am wondering if this could mean that I didn´t absorb the full amount of iron from the infusion. All this needs to be checked with a new hematologist so please don´t take this as a fact. Please Meme report about your case here. I really freaked out when I saw my skin darkening, and no doctor could explain me why nor give me a reference of another case. I would have appreciated to read about other cases like mine. Thanks for this community for keeping the posts visible for a long time.
meme6195
12 March 2017
Pat, Thanks so very much for the info.
Pat-41
13 March 2017
You are welcome, let us know about your progress. Fingers crossed for you x
Chiri
30 Nov 2018
Hi Guys,
I had my iron infusion (1gm Ferriinject) on 24th and fell very sick. I had high fever and joint and muscle pain. Was in bed for 3 days. My GP mentioned that this was a possible reaction of iron infusion (although no one mentioned this to me before). I feel better now but noticed that my skin has become quite dark after the infusion. Its also patchy in my legs and arms. I will appreciate if people can tell me about their recovery. Thanks
wandawoof
30 July 2015
Vitamin c helps the body.absorb iron better. Check with your dr.
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skin, iron, infusion, pigmentation
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