Neonatal lupus erythematosus and its clinical variability

Abstract

Neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) is a rare disease affecting newborns that is caused by maternal autoantibodies transmitted across the placenta. The disease may affect the skin, the heart, and rarely the hepatobiliary or hematological systems. A serious complication affecting some patients with NLE is atri-oventricular heart block (AV block). The clinical picture of cutaneous NLE varies considerably. NLE presents with confluent, scaly, periorbital erythema, or erythematous infiltrated plaques with central vesicles and lesions resembling seborrheic eczema or fungal infection. In any newborn with such skin lesions, NLE should be included in the differential diagnosis. Dermatologists play an important role in the diagnosis. We review different skin lesions occurring in neonatal lupus erythematosus based on five patients from our own clinic. © Blackwell Verlag GmbH, Berlin.