Scleroderma is a rare, chronic disease that affects the skin and internal organs. Women with reproductive age are nine times more likely than men to be infected.
This disease appears in two primary forms:
1. Limited: characterized by the skin becomes thicker, especially in the hands and feet and in the face.
2. Pervasive: when the skin injury is widespread, in addition to the limbs and face, chest, abdomen and back. Most of the known symptoms of the disease are common to both images. The cause of scleroderma is not known, but it has been shown that three basic processes occur during hardening of the skin: changes in the immune system (including inflammation), damage to small blood vessels and fibrosis.
During the disease the skin becomes tight, thick and without folds. Signs of facial skin (lack of wrinkles, narrow mouth opening), deformities of the hands (sclerodactyly), restriction of joint movement. A third of those infected with the disease also develop muscle inflammation.
Vascular disorder – Raynaud’s syndrome: A temporary change in the color of the skin of the fingers, nose and ears, to white, blue and red, after exposure to cold or irritation. Frequent and frequent seizures of blood vessels lead to dysfunction in blood supply, ulcers, and even tissue necrosis.
Renault’s seizures occur in the internal organs as well and cause extensive damage to the heart, lungs and kidneys. Kidney injury is manifested by excessive blood pressure and disorder in their performance, even total insufficiency (which sometimes requires dialysis).
Small vascular injury causes clogging of some of them, while the other expands. It looks like a red star on the surface of the skin and mucous membranes – telangiectasia. Changes in capillaries in the skin around the nail bed can be observed by capillaroscopy.
Fibrosis develops over time in different skin and tissues.
The risk of internal organ exposure involves, too, the entire digestive tract. Heartburn may include swallowing disorders caused by esophageal damage, abdominal pain, diarrhea and intermittent constipation, and even dyspepsia and fibrosis syndrome.
In some patients (especially those with limited scleroderma), there are significant changes in the blood vessels in the lungs, leading to high blood pressure in the lungs, which causes breathing difficulties, weakness and fainting.
In the common type of scleroderma, one of the most common complications is pulmonary fibrosis accompanied by coughing and rapid breathing, resulting in a rapid reduction of air volume in the lungs, causing respiratory distress, secondary hypertension in the lungs and signs of failure of the right side of the heart Right – sided heart failure.
Fibrosis also affects the heart muscle, leading to arrhythmia (arrhythmia) and heart failure.
Women with scleroderma face difficulties in pregnancy, but if successful, they end up giving birth to a healthy child. For the mother, she is at risk of infection in her kidneys at the time of birth, while men with the disease suffer from impotence.
Scleroderma is considered to be a disease that harms many organs and organs. It is therefore necessary to stay in constant observation and follow-up of multiple medical staffs: Rheumatologist, Cardiologist, Rheumatologist, Gastroenterologist, Dermatologist and Kidney Doctor. Early sclerosis can be diagnosed with frequent and permanent lung function (Spirometry), CT (CT) of the lungs, Echocardiography and kidney performance. Early treatment of scleroderma may alter its normal course and protect against complications and irreversible effects.