Reading TB skin test

[memphispanda]

I am very very frustrated with my husband's "nurse" at the MDs office right now. We are trying to get him on Remicade for Crohn's, and that involves having the PPD done.

First PPD they said was 4mm. I had already been watching it at home--it has a small blue bruise around the insertion site, but there was no redness, no hardness, no swelling. They recorded it at a positive PPD.

Second PPD (today) was completely flat, no bruise, just a tiny dot where the needle had gone in. They read this one as 2mm. WTH? They are going to prevent him from being able to get Remicade because they can't read a PPD properly.

Or am I just an idiot and I don't know how to read one?

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Maybe sort of "off topic" but I'm glad to hear from so many that "if it's positive you'll know it"...PPD's scare me every time I have to have one and I worry over it until it's read....of course, I have to have another one very soon (I hope) for school, and maybe this will keep me from being so worried about it! Thanks ya'll!

[chadash]

If there was a bruise, it needs to be redone. There should be no bruising, that means that the test was not done correctly and the results are invalid.

Yeh, I was curious about the bruise. Did they make a nice bubble under the skin?