Hello, RollTide10!
I was looking for something else but came upon your post here from March. Did anyone ever respond to you and/or did you resolve your situation? If so, great! If not, I have a little experience with DLE with my German Shepherd Dog, so am sharing below:
First, you should know that the only area of breakout (so far) has been my dog’s nose. We have been very lucky. She had two episodes where her poor little nose broke out in scaly, whitish-grey “eruptions.” I think it looked a lot worse than it felt as she did not fuss a lot, but it looked terrible. Since there are different types of Lupus (one of which is absolutely god-awful), I went ahead and had a biopsy done so we could have an absolute diagnosis. I paid a couple hundred bucks in 2016 to have my vet do what is called a “punch biopsy” of my dog’s nose and they sent it to a lab at Penn State for verification. They took a tiny, cylindrical needle “punch” of the nose tissue so they could get a good cross-section of the layers of skin/cells. I was not allowed to be in the room when it was done, but it only took moments and she seemed fine when it was over. No bad side effects and she was not “mad” at her vet or me afterwards — always a possibility with GSD’s!! 🙂
After that, we tried a couple different prescribed ointments but they did not seem to help. I have actually had the best luck using an organic dog nose balm that I get thru Amazon. It is called “Snout Soother” by the Natural Dog Company. Comes in either a tin or a “Snout Stick” like lip balm. About $18/ 2 oz. but it lasts a long time. When her nose has any sort of skin disruption, I apply it to her nose using a clean finger 2x a day and follow it immediately with some treats to keep her from licking it off right away. Only takes seconds for it to be absorbed enough to help. While she often still has a tiny spot on her nose that looks a little raw (where her nose makes contact with bedding or floor while she’s sleeping), we have had NO more Lupus type eruptions since initiating use of this product about four years ago. I have been very pleased and thankful! While the balm is expensive for the amount you get, it is nothing compared to what we might have been paying for prescribed meds that were not working. The balm cannot hurt the situation, so it is worth a try. Also, it is oil-based and melts easily, so you might want to consider keeping it in the fridge between uses.
You probably already know this by now, but don’t forget that dogs with DLE have to be careful not to get too much direct sunlight as it can cause or aggravate eruptions. My vet recommended a doggie skinscreen, but I tried several and could not find one that was truly unscented and my baby rubbed her nose trying to get the stuff off! (And the point of that would be …? Silly manufacturers!) So, if you can’t find a usable DOG sunscreen, you might want to try keeping your dog in the shade as much as possible. (BTW …. Obviously, being oil-based, you would NOT want to apply the “Snout Soother” prior to going outside either. It is NOT a sunscreen.)
I hope, at this date, you have already found a solution for your precious pup. If not, I hope this helps!
