| Www scleroderma disease, also known as systemic sclerosis, is a localized or diffuse fibrosis of skin and internal organs, connective tissue, characterized by hardening and shrinking of connective tissue disease, the main features of the skin, synovium, skeletal muscle, vascular and esophageal fibrosis or sclerosis. Some of the internal organs, such as lung, heart, kidney, and the size of the arteries may also have similar lesions. Severity of scleroderma vary, the light only fingers and facial skin involvement (localized), an early manifestation of the face, hands, and (or) foot swelling, skin tight, can not be raised, like a sausage, also known as the sausage like that, gradually thickened skin, striae and wrinkles disappear, the skin hardens late atrophy, facial skin thin, dull face, nose sharpened, the helix thinning, limited mouth opening, like a mask - like. Symptoms in most patients with Raynaud's phenomenon usually appears first as scleroderma, some patients have skin changes after 10 years in Raynaud's phenomenon. One-third of patients can joint pain and stiff joints, a few have certainly arthritis. In addition, some patients showed severe muscle weakness, and myositis difficult to identify. The gradual progress of the disease in some patients, often after a very long time, it was decades before clinical manifestations special visceral involvement. Severe scleroderma patients may have a wide range of skin changes, involving the chest and abdomen and back (diffuse), some patients describe "their belly like a stone plate." Diffuse scleroderma patients may have visceral involvement, some patients have been found sick kidneys, heart and other vital organs involvement, disease progression dangerous, even life-threatening. The exact incidence of scleroderma is unknown, all over the world scleroderma cases have been reported, but the country is not high incidence rates. In the United States there are four people per million to 12 human cases, estimated 5 to 100,000 existing scleroderma patients annually. China is no epidemiological data scleroderma. Incidence of women than men, of all ages may be the disease, the incidence of reproductive age women the most common, children, the elderly can also be sick. Patients reported contact with the silicon miners and workers have scleroderma more. |
