Do the skin problems of dermatomyositisever go away?
Brief answer: Yes. But in lost patients they will return after treatment is stopped. More complete answer: The answer to this question is “yes.” Some patients develop dermatomyositis skin disease and have the activity of their dermatomyositis completely controlled by medical treatment. Such patients might never have subsequent episodes of skin disease activity even when their treatment is withdrawn. However, the more common outcome for dermatomyositis skin disease is that it returns to some degree at some point in time after it has initially been suppressed with treatment. In some patients with the classical form of dermatomyositis, skin disease activity returns while the muscles remain normal. Thus, some patients that initially have the dermatomyositis rash and muscle weakness, redevelop only the skin rash when their disease activity returns following withdrawal of treatment. In this setting, the skin rash can be the patient’s main day-by-day medical problem. The skin rash in this sit
