Coexistentence of Morphea and DLE in a Patient with Beta Thalassemia Leading to a Diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematous

Abstract

Patients with autoimmune disorders are predisposed to developing a second autoimmune condition. This can be applied to cutaneous conditions as well. Morphea or localized scleroderma is an autoimmune inflammatory and fibrosing skin disorder due to increased collagen deposition.1,2 Patients with morphea are four times likelier of having a concomitant autoimmune disease.1 There have been cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with morphea, but the co-occurrence of discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) with morphea has been rarely reported, and never reported in patient with Beta-thalamessmia.1,2,7 Morphea and discoid lupus erythematosus can be found within one lesion or as separate diagnoses. In this case, we describe a patient with morphea and discoid lupus erythematous in the setting of beta thalassemia leading to diagnosis of SLE.