Your Skin and Autoimmune Diseases


Are you familiar with autoimmune diseases? Some disorders of the body can cause your immune system to underwork, or overwork itself. If your immune system overworks itself, it ends up attaking your own body and damaging your own cells. Your immune system can start producing antibodies that attack your own tissues instead of fight infections.
Some autoimmune diseases have symptoms that not only affect your internal organs but also your skin. The disease manifests itself physically via the appearance of rashes, blisters and skin inflammation besides internal symptoms like joint pain, muscle aches or fatigue.
Here are some autoimmune diseases that have symptoms which affect your skin:
Psoriasis – When your body’s skin cells are overactive and form new cells too quicker than your body can replace them. As a result, these skin cells pile up and cause scales or rashes.
Alopecia Areata – This is the result of your immune system attacts hair follicles and manifests as round, patches of baldness NOT JUST ON YOUR HEAD.
Vitiligo – This disease causes your skin to have light patches around your body as the immune system destroys melanocytes, the pigment-creating cells.
Type 1 Diabetes – Its symptoms include dry, itchy skin that can be very prone to infection. Type 1 Diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disorder that is the result of your immune system attacking your pancreas’ insulin-producing cells.
Lupus – This chronic disease can damage any part of the body, not just your skin but also internal organs. Physical symptoms visible on your skin include a butterfly rash across your cheeks and nose, and skin that’s prone to inflammation.
Autoimmune diseases are commonly treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, immunosuppressants and steroids. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, we recommend that you schedule a visit with your dermatologist for a proper evaluation. These disorders, when left untreated, can lead to serious organ damage.