Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can attack anyone indiscriminately. However, even though the name is familiar enough in the ear, did you know that lupus has some kind? Knowing the type of lupus experienced is very important in order to be able to make the right treatment.
Getting to know The Types of Lupus
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by an autoimmune condition, which is the immune system that attacks the cells, tissues, and organs of the body itself. That’s why lupus is one of the autoimmune diseases. Lupus can attack various parts and organs of the body, ranging from the skin, joints, blood cells, kidneys, lungs, heart, spinal cord, to the brain.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
This type of lupus disease is the most common lupus. SLE can attack any tissue and organ of the body with mild to severe levels of symptoms. What about the symptoms?
Many have only felt a few mild symptoms for a long time. However, some do not experience symptoms at all, before suddenly experiencing a severe attack.
Mild symptoms of SLE, such as prolonged pain and fatigue, can inhibit daily routine. Therefore, many people with SLE feel depressed, and anxious despite only experiencing mild symptoms.
Discoid Lupus Erythematosus (DLE)
Discoid Lupus Erythematosus (DLE) is one types of lupus that need to be known.
SLE is different from DLE. This type of lupus disease only attacks the skin, but its impact is able to attack other tissues and organs. DLE can usually be controlled by avoiding direct sun exposure and medications.
A person with DLE will usually experience symptoms, such as hair loss and permanent baldness (alopecia aerata). In addition, other symptoms can also be a red and round rash, such as scales on the skin that will sometimes thicken and become scarred.
Cutaneous lupus
It can be recognized from rashes that appear on the skin with a variety of clinical appearances. With Lupus, this type can be diagnosed by testing a biopsy of the rash with a typical image of inflammatory cell infiltrate at the dermoepidermal boundary. There are several types of skin abnormalities in lupus.
Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus
Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus is one Types of Lupus That Need To Be Known.
This type of lupus can affect different parts of the body, both skin and organs in the body. But the most distinctive feature of this type of lupus is the way it affects the condition of the skin. Lupus can cause three levels of skin diseases, namely, chronic skin diseases, sub-acute skin diseases, and acute skin diseases.
Sufferers of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (sub-acute skin lupus) can cause arthritis. Inflammation in one or more joints accompanied by pain, swelling, stiffness and limited ability move is a condition called arthritis.
Symptoms are raised by subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus such as scaly red patches on the arms, shoulders, neck and some patches on the face. Sufferers should be kept away from sunlight as it can aggravate the disease. Symptoms are usually treated using corticosteroid cream, ointments and gels.
Drug-induced lupus
Drug-induced lupus is a subset of lupus that arises after exposure to the drug and disappears after the drug is discontinued. In lupus, this type only appears after lupus patients use certain types of drugs within a certain period of time (more than 1 month).
There are more than 80 types of drugs that can cause Lupus to impact the drug. One of the best known examples of lupus drugs include hydralazine (to treat high blood), methyldopa, procainamide (to treat arrhythmias), D-penicillamine (a drug to overcome heavy metal poisoning), as well as minocycline (acne drug).
Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus (NLE)
Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus (NLE) is not actually a true form of lupus obtained due to the infant’s autoimmune disorders, but rather from the autoantibody inherited from the mother. The name lupus is pinned because this condition can cause skin rashes that resemble actual lupus disease.
The cause of lupus stems from the pregnancy-specific autoantibodies (anti-Ro/SSA, anti-La/SSB or anti-RNP) that moves across the placenta to the developing fetus. This autoantibodies then damages fetal tissue through a process that is not fully understood until it finally causes symptoms.
The most common symptom is a red rash or a typical skin eruption associated with SLE. Red rashes or lesions most often appear on the face and scalp, rarely on the body, arms and legs.
Usually these skin rashes / lesions are temporary and will heal completely in a matter of weeks or months without leaving scar tissue.
In rare cases, NLE in infants can cause serious complications, such as thrombocytopenia, anemia, neutropenia, splenomegaly (enlarged spleen), hepatomegaly (enlargement of the liver organ), cholestatic hepatitis, macrocephaly to a heart condition known as congenital heart block.
Thank you very much for reading Types of Lupus That Need To Be Known, hopefully useful.
