Track marks are a visible reminder of the physical damage caused by IV drug abuse. Known as “slamming,” “jacking up,” and “shooting up,” this iv drug use is an extremely dangerous form of drug abuse. More dangerous injection sites are often used as easily accessible veins are exhausted.
- While heroin is the most notorious drug used this way, you may be surprised to learn that drug users administer a wide variety of other drugs by this method.
- A person who has been addicted to IV drugs for some time may produce marks that stretch up the length of their veins.
- Septic arthritis is a joint infection that typically occurs when an infection travels through the bloodstream to a joint.
The information we provide is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers. When people are addicted to injecting drugs, they tend to use the same injection site repeatedly. Over time, this can cause physical damage to their skin and veins. Because injection sites are open wounds, even just wearing the same article of clothing for multiple days can lead to an infection.
Signs Of Injection Drug Use
As IV drug use progresses, your loved one may have dried and cracked skin that appears infected. Additionally, it is important to note that repeated injections to the same vein will cause them to darken and raise, making your loved one’s track marks more noticeable. Track marks look like tiny holes in the skin and may have various colors depending on the stages of healing of the skin.
Severe tetanus can result in opisthotonos, or arching of the back caused by general muscle spasms. The hepatitis virus can cause hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, the most serious of the hepatitis viruses. Hepatitis C can be either acute or chronic, meaning the symptoms are either short- or long-term. While acute hepatitis C symptoms typically occur within a few weeks, chronic hepatitis C symptoms often take several months or even years to develop.
What are Track Marks?
Abscesses and injection site wounds may also cause heavy, telltale scarring around the areas where a person has injected drugs. These track mark scars are often permanent and highly stigmatizing, only fading slowly with time after a person stops injecting drugs. HIV is a chronic autoimmune disease that can occur from a contaminated needle. IV drug users, especially those who share needles, are at an increased risk of developing HIV.
