Scleroderma

What is scleroderma?

Scleroderma means ‘hard skin’. Thickening and hardening of your skin is the most obvious symptom of scleroderma but it can also affect your internal organs.

There are two types of scleroderma:

localised scleroderma only affects your skin
systemic sclerosis can affect your other organs

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What are the symptoms of scleroderma?

Symptoms of scleroderma include:

thickening and hardening of your skin, especially your hands
tightening of your facial skin, e.g. around your mouth
your fingers or toes turning white then blue in the cold (Raynaud’s phenomenon)
small red blood spots on your face, hands and arms
small lumps of soft or hard calcium deposits under your skin, often on your fingertips
joint pain and stiffness
digestive problems (e.g heartburn, difficulty swallowing)

Rarer complications include heart, lung or kidney problems.

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What causes scleroderma?

Scleroderma is caused by changes in your body’s connective tissues. These tissues lie under the surface of your skin and in and around your internal organs and blood vessels.

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What is the outlook?

Scleroderma is different for everyone – most people find that it affects just a few parts of their body and comes on gradually, although a small number of people have more serious complications.

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How is scleroderma diagnosed?

There’s no single test for scleroderma, and the characteristic thickening of your skin is often the key factor in making the diagnosis. However, tests can be helpful in establishing whether other parts of your body are affected.

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