What are the lesions of scleroderma?
Scleroderma patients have different degrees of skin lesions. In light cases, only the skin of fingers and face is tight and hard, and it often takes a long time for visceral injury to occur. In severe cases, there is extensive skin thickening, involving the chest, abdomen and back. Typical skin lesions generally go through three stages: skin lesions-generally appear on fingers and face first, showing swelling and edema, and there is no depression when pressing (swelling stage). Some patients may have erythema and itching, and patients often feel that their hands are swollen like sausages and their activities are not flexible. After that, the skin gradually thickens and hardens, the fingers are wrapped in artificial leather, the skin can't be lifted as easily as normal people (hardening period), the hands can't make fists, and the skin lesions can gradually spread to the arms, neck, upper chest, abdomen and back, and the legs are rarely involved. Finally, the skin shrinks, becomes smooth but looks very thin, and sticks tightly to the subcutaneous bone surface, so that the joint flexion and contracture can not be straightened, and skin can also appear. The skin becomes hard and thin, the dermatoglyphics disappear, and even the hair falls off (atrophy period). The skin on the face hardens, making the dermatoglyphics on the face disappear, all emotions are gone, and the mouth can't be opened. At this time, the skin of other parts of the body can gradually become soft and clinically normal, especially the skin of trunk and limbs. Patients with diffuse scleroderma often have pigmentation and dark skin color in the hardened skin. Some parts of the skin lose color and form white spots, which make the skin look like "salt and pepper noodles". There can also be many tiny red lines on the skin, which are dilated capillaries. CREST patients have subcutaneous calcification. The disease usually progresses slowly, and some patients may get better on their own. It is effective to use corticosteroids such as prednisone during skin swelling, but it cannot block the course of the disease. It has been reported abroad that penicillamine or colchicine can alleviate skin lesions. Traditional Chinese medicine may also soften the skin, but the visceral damage of this disease needs to be treated with glucocorticoid or even immunosuppressant. (Source: Zhengzhou Huaren Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine)