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My father also was on amantadine and has purplish shins. He was in a serious car accident about 16 years ago, when both of his legs received multiple fractures - so I always thought that the purplish marks were from that, but logically they should have faded by now. Over the past month we have slowly weaned him off of his amantadine - With BTW some major withdrawal symptoms for which we were unprepared. I will watch him to see if the marks fade now - and report back. However, the symptoms of drying out, cracking and weeping - seem to be typical of my mothers legs - a non-PWP. She has been diagnosed with Schleroderma - which is an auto-immune disorder which attacks the body's tissues causing hardening. It can form on any organ, but is apparent on her shins. It is tender to the touch, and if bruised or cut, the skin seeps and takes forever to heal. She desperately needs a knee replacement, but no surgeon would dream of cutting into that scleroderma skin. It affects mostly women, and causes death from kidney, heart or lung failure if those organs are affected. But that is with systemic scleroderma, and on your leg is localized scleroderma. Recently, I saw an ad for the Scleroderma federation. 1-800-422-1113 in Peabody Mass. They could perhaps send you more info if you think that might be what you have. And refer you to a doctor familiar with the disease. Not many people know about it. When my Mom was in Northwestern's hospital for her heart - she was a regular stop on the teaching circuit b/c it is rare. Sara Byron - daughter of Richard, 79 yrs old, PD since 1969 [log in to unmask] About 2 >years ago the skin on the right leg, in the same area that was previously >"mottled", began to dry out and sometimes crack and weep. A year or so >later a spot about 3 inches in diameter developed on the left leg above the >ankle. When it wasn't very bad the Dr just shrugged and said he didn't know >what was going on. Now it is very raw and uncomfortable. >Bill & Bobbie Cotter [log in to unmask] Reno, NV >