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Teena: En Coup De Sabre

I am living proof it can get better!

Around the year 2000, I suddenly started to get a stripe on my forehead. My hair started falling out and I was very scared. I went to my local doctor, but he wasn't sure what it was and had never seen it before so they sent me to a local dermatologist. That doctor said he needed me to go to John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

My mother and I went to Johns Hopkins Hospital. They did what was called 'Grand Rounds' where about fifty doctors were looking at me taking pictures and videotaping me. Boy, did I feel like an animal in the zoo! The main doctor said we believe that it is called morphea (en coup de sabre) which means" slain by sword." There is no known cause or cure for this disease.

Saddened over a period of time but with a lot of faith and prayer for seven years, here it is 2008. One day I noticed my stripe on my forehead started to flatten out and got smaller where my hair was lost but is slowly growing back. I cried and jumped for joy!

I never used any medications on it or had plastic surgery. I am living proof it can get better! I want those who have no hope to have it and to know it can go away. Please, if you can give advice on how I can get this out to all those all over the world let me know. I can't just sit back and feel lucky. I'd want to know if this can heal.

Webmasters Note: We are happy for you, Teena! En coup de sabre is a form of Linear Scleroderma. As it happens, it is considered to be the natural course of the disease for scleroderma to wax and wane (get worse and then better), sometimes halting, or even reversing itself, even without any treatment. Treatments are available now, especially for en coup de sabre. Due to the often chronic nature of the condition and possible complications, it is important to still have a scleroderma expert and to adhere to their guidance for any follow-up care.

To Contact the Author

ISN Story Editor: Judith Thompson Devlin

Judith Thompson Devlin is the ISN Story Editor for this story. She is also lead editor of the ISN's wonderful Voices of Scleroderma book series!

SCLERO.ORG was the world's leading nonprofit for trustworthy research, support, education and awareness for scleroderma and related illnesses from 1998 to 2021. It was a grassroots movement from the original Scleroderma from A to Z web site, which was founded by Shelley Ensz. We were a 501(c)(3) U.S.-based public charitable foundation. We closed this web site and our nonprofit agency in April 2021.