Lupus- An Autoimmune Disease
compiled by Julia Beery
What is Lupus?
Lupus is an autoimmune disease. This means that your body is trying to fight off sickness, but it doesn’t do it in the right way. The antibodies fight your healthy cells by creating autoantibodies (cells that attack your antibodies). In the case of lupus, it is not even caused by a germ.
Types of Lupus
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE):
- most common form of lupus
- can affect skin, joints, tendons, brain, heart, lungs, and kidney
- skin disease- rashes on face, neck, scalp, and ears
- two types: discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) & subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE)
- DLE causes scars
- SCLE does not cause scars
- caused by reaction to medicine
- goes away after the person stops taking that medicine
War among the Antibodies
These are the antibodies fighting against each other: the cause of lupus
Lupus on the Skin
This is an example of skin/cutaneous lupus
SCLE
This is lupus on the skin, the kind that causes scars