Skin and Rheumatic Disease

Abstract

Many rheumatic diseases may involve any organ system of the body including the skin. Proper understanding of rheumatic skin disease is necessary for making a diagnosis. In addition, there are important relationships existing between the cutaneous and systemic manifestations of rheumatic diseases. In management of these diseases, the interdisciplinary approach could generate better results. Among rheumatic diseases, the cutaneous manifestations of three major rheumatic diseases such as lupus erythematosus (LE), dermatomyositis (DM)/polymyositis and scleroderma/systemic sclerosis (SSc) will all be reviewed.