Commentary Systemic sclerosis is one of the rheumatic diseases that is associated with the worst prognosis. Systemic sclerosis is divided into localized and systemic forms. Localized scleroderma comprises four subtypes, namely morphea, generalized morphea, linear scleroderma and en coup de saber, and is more commonly encountered in children. Although conversion into systemic sclerosis is very u...

Received: Jan 16, 2013 Accepted: Feb 13, 2013 Ann Paediatr Rheum 2013; 2:50-55 DOI: 10.5455/apr. 021320131602 Introduction Morphea or Localized scleroderma (LS) is an idiopathic inflammatory disease of the skin characterized by localized, circumscribed sclerotic patches, or plaques with variable pigmentation. LS has been differentiated from systemic sclerosis based upon the clinical findings of...

INTRODUCTION Morphea (localized scleroderma) is a rare cutaneous disease characterized by skin fibrosis of unknown pathogenesis. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a potent profibrotic factor. The role of TGF-β in morphea remains unclear. AIM The goal of this study was to estimate the expression level of TGF-β1 in skin and peripheral blood mononuclear cells as well as the plasma levels o...

INTRODUCTION Morphea (localized scleroderma) is a relatively rare disease characterized by excessive skin fibrosis. Human endogenous retroviruses (HERV) are largely distributed within the human genome with hundreds of thousands of elements. The HERV have been widely studied in autoimmune disorders, yet hardly ever assessed in diseases with a good prognosis such as morphea. AIM In this study w...

We report the case of a 48-year-old woman who developed morphea-like plaques after 1 year of treatment with D-penicillamine at 250 mg daily for a seronegative erosive arthritis of rheumatoid type. The rash began as several red itchy patches on the trunk; these became thickened and shiny over about 3 months. The histological appearance was of increased dermal fibrosis with an inflammatory infilt...

Sir, We read with great interest the report recently published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology by Balegar et al.,[1] which describes a case of a 27-year-old male who developed radiation-induced progressive generalized morphea after getting radiotherapy (RT) for an intracranial tumor. In this patient, morphea, initially strictly localized on the irradiated zone, appeared some months after t...

The term "scleroderma" traditionally has been uti l ized to describe the cutaneous changes of a heterogeneous group of disorders involving hardening, tightening, and decreased elasticity of the skin.' Two extreme forms have been identified-localized and diffuse. The localized form, specifically morphea, i s characterized by well-circumscribed, sclerotic plaques with an ivory-colored center and ...

INTRODUCTION The clinical presentation of morphea varies from localized plaques to generalized eruptions. Its cause remains unknown and medical treatments have often proved unsatisfactory. Studies have previously shown that improvement of hypertrophic scars and fibrotic skin can be achieved with the use of a 585 nm pulsed dye laser (PDL). METHODS A case of plaque-type morphea was treated with...