What should I know about Systemic Lupus Erythematosus?
The scene is a village somewhere in 10th century Europe. A woman arrives at the local physician/bloodletter’s shop looking like a wolf has eaten way her flesh. The physician names this condition “Lupus,” which is Latin for “wolf.” Nearly a millennium later, a Frenchman named Cazenave coins the term lupus erthemateux to describe patients suffering from an angry-looking rash that erodes the skin on their cheeks and noses. These are the earliest historical descriptions of the chronic disease now known as “systemic lupus erythematosus.” It is not surprising that systemic lupus erythematosus, also called simply “SLE” or just “lupus” was first recognized as a skin disease. The hallmark feature of SLE is a bright red, butterfly-pattern facial skin rash. But SLE is anything but a superficial disease; it can devastate the joints and internal organs. In the late 19th century, following more detailed descriptions of it clinical manifestations, SLE became recognized as a multi-system disease.(1, 2
Related Questions
- I was recently diagnosed with discoid lupus. What is the likelihood of this progressing to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the future?
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