“Cutaneous” means “skin.” Symptoms may
include rashes, hair loss, swelling of the
blood vessels, ulcers, and sun sensitivity. To
find out if you have cutaneous lupus and
what kind it is, your doctor will remove a
small piece of the rash or sore and look at it
under a microscope.
There are two major kinds of cutaneous
lupus:
• Discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE).
A discoid rash usually begins as a
red raised rash that becomes scaly or
changes color to a dark brown. These
rashes often appear on the face and
scalp, but they may affect other areas.
Many people with DLE have scarring.
Sometimes DLE causes sores in the
mouth or nose. If you have DLE, there
is a small chance that you will later get
SLE.
• Subacute cutaneous lupus erythema-
tosus causes skin lesions that appear on
parts of the body exposed to sun. These
lesions do not cause scars.
WHAT IS DRUG-INDUCED LUPUS?
Drug-induced lupus is caused by certain
medicines. The symptoms of drug-induced
lupus are like those of SLE, such as joint
pain, muscle pain, and fever. But symptoms
are usually not as serious. Also, drug-in-
duced lupus rarely affects major organs.
Most often, the disease goes away when the
medicine is stopped.
The medicines that most commonly
cause drug-induced lupus are used to treat
other chronic health problems. These
include seizures, high blood pressure, or
rheumatoid arthritis. But not everyone who
takes these medicines will get drug-induced
lupus.
WHAT IS NEONATAL LUPUS?
Neonatal lupus is a rare condition in
infants that is caused by certain antibodies
from the mother. These antibodies can be
found in mothers who have lupus. But, if
you have lupus, this does not mean you will
definitely pass it to your baby. Most infants
of mothers with lupus are healthy.
It is also possible for an infant to have
neonatal lupus even though the mother
does not have lupus currently. But, if a baby
is born with lupus, often the mother will
develop lupus later in life.
At birth, an infant with neonatal lupus
may have a skin rash, liver problems, or low
blood cell counts. These symptoms often go
away completely after several months and
have no lasting effects. Infants with neonatal
lupus also can have a rare but serious heart
defect.
WHO GETS LUPUS?
Anyone can get lupus. It is difficult
to know how many people in the United
States have lupus, because the symptoms
are different for every person. It is esti-
mated that 1.5 million Americans have
lupus.1 Other estimates range from 161,000
to 322,000 Americans with systemic lupus
erythematosus (SLE).2
About 9 out of 10 diagnoses of lupus
are in women ages 15 to 44.3
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