TO THE EDITOR: I note the letter in the 7 June issue of the Journal by Ojaimi and colleagues, in which they express their concerns about the lack of uniform screening guidelines for patients on hydroxychloroquine therapy. The most obvious problem was the apparent failure of the treating rheumatologist to ensure that the patient was adequately followed up for ocular side effects associated with ...

OBJECTIVE The proportion of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who manifest retinal involvement increases many fold in patients with active systemic disease. The objective of this report is to stress upon the significance of comprehensive ophthalmic assessment of all SLE patients to prevent and manage blinding ocular manifestations of the disease. METHODS Retrospective case revi...

Lupus erythematosus, especially the discoid form, and lichen planopilaris may be associated and can occur in different topographies (coexistence) or in the same lesion (lupus eythematosus/lichen planus overlap syndrome). Frontal fibrosing alopecia is considered a variant form of lichen planopilaris and is characterized by frontotemporal hairline and eyebrow involvement. Of the association with ...

Hydroxychloroquine sulfate (HCQ, Plaquenil) is an analogue of chloroquine (CQ), an antimalarial agent, used for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders. Its use has been associated with severe retinal toxicity, requiring a discontinuation of therapy. Because it presents potential secondary effects including irreversible maculopathy, kno...

Vitamin D has important roles in physiological processes and is primarily involved in calcium and phosphorus homeostasis and musculoskeletal system metabolism (1, 2). Moreover, vitamin D acts on the cardiovascular system and in systemic inflammation, oxidative stress, and immune regulation (1, 2). Vitamin D deficiency has been proposed as a risk factor for many diseases that are not traditional...

Background: Pustular Psoriasis (PP) and Acute Generalized Exanthematous Pustulosis (AGEP) clinically resemble each other. There are many patients with generalized pustular presentations like hydroxychloroquine-induced pustular reaction who do not completely fall within PP or AGEP categories and needed to be more evaluated. So we examined a large series of these reactions to hyd...

this paper presents a 54-year-old female with lupus whom severe anaemia due to pure red cell aplasia (prca) was the first manifestation. there was seven years interval between prca onset and diagnosis of lupus. thymectomy due to thymoma had been carried out six years before but anaemia sustained. hypothyroidism and hypoparathyroidism were other associated diseases. severe anaemia and the need f...