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| Morphea is a Clinical Diagnosis | |||||
| Morphea is usually diagnosed by clinical examination. The diagnosis is sometimes confirmed with blood tests, skin biopsies, or other methods. | |||||
| Photos of Morphea | |||||
| ISN Photo Repository: Morphea Photos. ISN. | |||||
| Antibodies and Other Blood Tests in Morphea | |||||
| It is not necessary to have antibodies to substantiate a diagnosis of morphea. However antibodies are sometimes found in patients with morphea. Levels of serum manganese superoxide may be markers for disease activity, and may indicate the extent of skin involvement. | |||||
| Rheumatoid factor isotypes in localized scleroderma. The presence of RF isotypes is one of the immunological abnormalities of localized scleroderma. IgM RF seemed to be most useful of these three factors to determine the severity of disease. PubMed. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2005 Jul;30(4):405-8. | |||||
| Computerized Skin Score (CSS) | |||||
| A new computerized method for the assessment of skin lesions in localized scleroderma (LS). CSS (computerized skin score) has shown to be a reliable method to assess the skin lesions in patients with LS. It is reproducible, easy to use and, with the support of the CSS software, applicable worldwide. PubMed. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2007 Jan 30. (Also see: Localized Scleroderma:Linear) | |||||
| Infrared Thermography | |||||
| Juvenile-onset localized scleroderma activity detection by infrared thermography. Our results demonstrate that thermography is a promising diagnostic tool when associated with clinical examination in discriminating disease activity, as long as it is applied to lesions without severe atrophy of the skin and subcutaneous fat. Further evaluation is needed to determine whether thermography can predict the future progression of lesions. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2002 Oct;41(10):1178-1182 PubMed. | |||||
| Laser Doppler Flowmetry | |||||
| Laser Doppler flowmetry for assessing localized scleroderma in children. LDF is a helpful, noninvasive diagnostic technique that can be used to discriminate disease activity in children with localized scleroderma, and is more accurate than thermography for this purpose. (PubMed) Arthritis Rheum. 2007 Oct;56(10):3489-95. | |||||
| Skin Biopsy for Morphea | |||||
| Morphea is often confirmed by skin biopsy. Skin biopsies are usually a very tiny sample of tissue and the procedure is often very quick, easy and with minimal discomfort. | |||||
| Ultrasound | |||||
| Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) in the diagnosis of skin diseases. We conclude that UBM is a non-invasive diagnostic tool in dermatology which can be used to give valuable information about disease progress and the effectiveness of therapy. PubMed. Eur J Dermatol. 2007 Oct 19;17(6):469-475. (Also see: Psoriasis) |
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| Go to Morphea Patient and Caregiver Stories} | ||||||||||||
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