Evaluation and management of skin disease

Abstract

Physicians use the skin findings in scleroderma as key determinants of diagnosis, as classification of patients into diffuse, limited, and localized scleroderma is largely based on the dermatologic exam. While details of categorization of patients into these disease subsets, the pathogenesis of skin fibrosis, Raynaud's phenomenon and skin ulcerations, nail fold microscopy, and the use of systemic disease modifying drugs are discussed elsewhere in this book, this chapter will review specifics of skin-directed evaluation and management with the focus on clinical manifestations and options for topical therapies.