About eight months ago, in December of 2006, I realised I had a white spot in the skin above my tibia in my right leg (from below the knee all the way down to the foot), surrounded by a red aureola roughly 15 cm long and 10 cm wide. The skin and the subcutaneous tissue were hardened. It seemed as if the skin were completely attached to the bone and it would be impossible to remove it.

At first I thought that this numbness had been caused by hitting myself with something while hiking, and that it should disappear quickly. However, as time went by, the patch extended, and the hardening, instead of going down, got worse, involving more and more parts of my leg, all the way until my knee.

Many check-ups, incluiding orthopedicians, didn't amount to much, until in mid-june of 2007 a skillfull dermatologist diagnosed segmented sclerodermia (wh I believe he meant to say linear scleroderma ).

After the usual exams (biopsy, blood, etc.), to rule out the systemic form, I started and followed for 40 days, a therapy based on cortisone and hydroxychloroquine (until July 30th), that seemed to have possitive effects (the heat I used to feel in the affected area lowered in intensity).

Starting on August 1st, I am only taking piascledine to soften the muscles, and the skin involved. I still have the impression that the illness is progressing, and I would be interested in getting to know people with the same illness, or similar experiences.