|
|
|
“The wolf, I’m afraid, is inside tearing up the place. I’ve been in the hospital 50 days already this year.”
– Flannery O’Connor, a few days before succumbing to her progressive and inexorable fatal illness.
upus erythematosus is one of those curious diseases that can masquerade as any of a dozen other medical maladies. Its variety of symptoms include fever, chills, headache, weakness, fatigue, hair loss, joint pains, chest pains, epileptic seizures, personality changes, and rashes. Any or all of these symptoms may be part of this complicated disease we commonly call LE.
What exactly is LE? It is a chronic inflammation of connective tissue – the so-called body “glue” – that binds our cells together. As such, it is considered a connective tissue, or collagen, disease and is often classified in the rheumatic group of diseases along with rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis. Every part of our bodies – all our organs, our muscles, blood, joints, skin – has this connective tissue, and thus, may be affected by LE.
No one really knows what causes LE. This puzzling condition, which affects over 500,000 people in the United States, is most likely due to an “autoimmune process” – a technical way of saying that the body, due to some unexplained allergy, produces certain abnormal substances called autoantibodies that attack and destroy its own tissues. Normally, when foreign substances (antigens), such as disease-producing germs or allergens, attack your body, it responds by producing antibodies to fight off these harmful invaders. In people with LE, this normal defense mechanism breaks down. And instead of attacking the antigens, the antibodies attack the body’s own tissues. A most difficult concept to comprehend.
It is important to know there are two types of LE. One is the benign or “friendly” type, called the discoid variety of LE. Triggered by some external factor, such as sunlight or injury, it shows up as red, scaly patches symmetrically distributed over the sun-exposed areas of the body – the cheeks, nose, ears, scalp, the backs of the hands, and occasionally the “V” of the neck. The patches of LE, thought to resemble (on the face) the teeth marks of a wolf – hence the word lupus – can also affect the beard and scalp, usually resulting in permanent hair loss.
These patches grow larger over a period of months or years, forming disc-shaped (discoid) patches. They slowly lose their reddish color, and become white and depressed. This depression – essentially a scar – is the end result of a typical “discoid” lesion.
Discoid LE affects all races, is more common in young adults, and occurs twice as often in women as in men. If you have discoid LE, it’s important to see a dermatologist. While the condition itself is relatively harmless, these “discs” may be harbingers of some underlying condition that can flare up into systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
SLE is a serious variety of LE that can affect and damage any or all of the body’s organs or systems: kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, bone marrow, and joints. Fortunately, only about one in ten people with discoid LE ever progress to the systemic or internal type of the disease.
One of the triggering mechanisms that may convert the “friendly” condition into the more serious, “unfriendly” variety is sun exposure. People with LE, therefore, must strictly avoid the beaches, sunbathing in general, and tropical cruises.
Other factors that can turn the “benign” form of the disease into the more serious type are stress, injury, fatigue, overwork, certain medications (such as those used for high blood pressure, heart disease, and epilepsy), antibiotics and birth control pills, various types of tranquilizers, and after exposure in tanning salons.
Treatment for LE will depend on your age and the nature and severity of your symptoms. Your dermatologist may prescribe cortisone-like creams and ointments to reduce the redness and relieve the inflammation in the affected patches. In rare cases, where the lesions are progressive, widespread, or disfiguring, your doctor may prescribe drugs called antimalarials, or other oral medications, to prevent further spread.
|
For further information regarding LE, contact: National Lupus Erythematosus Foundation 2635 North First Street – Suite 206 San Jose, CA 95134 408-954-8600 or The American Lupus Society 800-331-1802 |
|
| TREATING LUPUS |
|
The treatment for LE is up to your physician. However, to prevent aggravating the condition, always use a "high-powered" sunscreen – at least one with an SPF of over 30 – before sun exposure.
For any itching that is associated with LE patches, use the following cream 2 or 3 times daily:
Cort-Aid Cream 0.5%
Cosmetic coverups, such as Covermark or Dermablend, can be used to hide any disfiguring scars.
 |  |  |
|
|
|