Treatment options for hypercalcemia after cosmetic oil injections: Lessons from human tissue cultures and a pilot...

Granuloma formation following self-administered cosmetic oil injections can lead to severe hypercalcemia and renal calcifications due to extra-renal vitamin D activation. This translational study aims to identify Prednisolone sparing therapeutics for hypercalcemia after development of granulomatous disease secondary to paraffin oil injections.

Granuloma tissue isolated from five men were cultured ex vivo and treated with selected drugs to block generation of activated vitamin D (1,25(OH)₂D₃). In a retrospective study, we included data before and during different treatments of 21 men with paraffin oil induced granulomatous hypercalcemia (46 treatment courses) where serum calcium, parathyroid hormone, vitamin D metabolites, creatinine and inflammatory markers were measured.

Addition of Ketoconazole or Ciclosporin to granuloma tissue ex vivo culture, significantly suppressed production of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ after 48 h (both p < 0.05). Prednisolone was the first treatment option in most men and lowered serum levels of ionized calcium after 1, 2, 3 and 6 months compared with baseline (p < 0.05). Ketoconazole or Hydroxychloroquine had no significant effect on serum calcium levels and were unable to reduce the concomitant daily Prednisolone doses (p > 0.05). Azathioprine did not reduce calcium levels. However, addition of Tacrolimus to Prednisolone treatment enabled a reduction in Prednisolone dose after 3 months (p = 0.014), but with no additional effect on calcium homeostasis.

This study verifies that Prednisolone is an effective treatment and suggests that calcineurin inhibitors may be used as Prednisolone sparing treatment for paraffin oil-induced granulomatous hypercalcemia. Randomized clinical trials are needed to determine clinical efficacy.