Morphea is a localized scleroderma variety which can be circumscribed or generalized and is characterized by sclerotic plaques developing on trunk and limbs. Surgery and radiation have been implicated as etiological factors for the development of morphea. Majority of the radiation-induced morphea cases have occurred in patients with breast cancer. The affected areas have been generally restrict...

Introduction Morphea and lichen sclerosus (LS) are chronic inflammatory diseases that may pose a diagnostic challenge for a physician. High-frequency ultrasonography (HFUS) is a versatile diagnostic method utilized in dermatologic practice, allowing monitoring the course of the disease, treatment response and differentiation between certain skin disorders. Aim To prove the usefulness of HFUS ...

Generalized guttate morphea is a very uncommon clinical entity, and few reports are available in the literature. We report the case of a 7-year-old boy who first attended our clinic in 1990 with guttate morphea on the trunk and upper limbs. These lesions were associated with plaque morphea on his right foot. Twelve years later, lesions with a different appearance to the previous ones were obser...

Herein we report successful treatment of an adolescent Caucasian female with severe progressive localized scleroderma (mixed subtype, including generalized morphea and linear scleroderma of the trunk/limb) using infliximab and leflunomide. The patient demonstrated improvement after the first 9 months of therapy based on her clinical examination, objective measures, and patient and parent global...

BACKGROUND Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a generalized disorder of unknown etiology affecting the connective tissue of the body. It affects the skin and various internal organs. Gastrointestinal tract involvement is seen in almost 90% of the patients. Esophagus is the most frequently affected part of the gastrointestinal tract. Esophageal motility disturbance classically manifests as a reduced lo...

Cutaneous sclerosis, resembling that seen in subcutaneous morphea, is a feature of eosinophilic fasciitis and eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, two conditions in which the kynurenine pathway is known to be activated. To investigate the possibility of activation of the kynurenine pathway in morphea, skin biopsies were taken from involved and non-involved sites in a series of three patients with mor...

Sir, A 21-year-old male presented with multiple brown asymptomatic plaques arranged in a zosteriform pattern, confined to the left flank of abdomen (Fig. 1) of 6 months’ duration. There was no history of herpes zoster affecting the same location. His general physical and systemic examinations were within normal limits. Cutaneous examination revealed a 3–6 cm wide zosteriform band composed of br...

Received: Jan 09, 2013 Accepted: Jan 16, 2013 Ann Paediatr Rheum 2013; 2:43-49 DOI: 10.5455/apr.011620131348 Introduction Juvenile localized scleroderma ( JLS) is a childhood condition characterized by thickening of the skin. A variety of clinical subtypes have been described, differentiated by the size, shape, and location of skin involvement as well as the presence or absence of extra-cutaneo...

Despite extensive knowledge about quality of life of people suffering from dermatological diseases, data on patients with morphea are scarce. The aim of our study was to compare the quality of life of healthy controls and morphea patients, as well as to determine the correlation of this variable with the level of dispositional optimism. The study included 47 patients with morphea and 47 healthy...

Sir, antinuclear antibody and anti-SCL 70 antibody showed no obvious abnormalities. The cause of morphea, or localized scleroderma, is unknown, but an autoimmune mechanism is likely to Biopsy specimens of both patients showed irregularly be involved. Patients with morphea have an increased arranged, thickened and hyalinized collagen bundles in incidence of autoimmune disorders, such as alopecia...