Morphea Skin Disease

What is Morphea?

Morphea is defined as a localized form of scleroderma which may include muscles as well. It does not occur commonly. It is a rare condition that leads to redness or purplish patches on your skin. It causes discoloration of skin to difficulty with the function of joints and muscles and other connective tissues.

Morphea skin condition there are isolated patches of thickened skin which hardens which occurs due to subcutaneous tissues from excessive collagen deposition.

What are the Variants of morphea?

Morphea is divided into following subtypes:

• Plaque morphea: It mainly affects skin or occasionally just underlying skin. The patches of affected skin are small and few in number. 
• Generalized morphea: There are four or more patches of skin affecting two or more areas of your body. The patches may spread and connect to each other.
• Linear scleroderma: Long patches appear in the skin as lines across the body. The affected skin affect the underlying muscles and bones and can limit your child’s ability to move the joints or muscles.
• Deep morphea: This is the most harmful type and is most rare. This type of morphea can cause pain also. 

Who are at risk?

Morphea affects women more than men.

Age group more commonly affected is 50-70 years.

Morphea is a heredity disorder.

What is the pathology involved?

The major cause of this condition is the overproduction and accumulation of collagen in the skin tissues.

The pathology starts with overproduction and accumulation of collagen and the immune system of the body turns against the body, resulting in inflammation.

What are the causes of Morphea?

The causes are as follows-

• Repeated trauma to the already affected area.

• Radiation therapy.

• History of recent infection such as measles or chickenpox.

What are the signs and symptoms of Morphea?

Symptoms-

• Hardening and thickening of the skin.

• Discoloration of the skin of affected area, skin looks lighter or darker than the surrounding skin area.

• The patches appear which are oval shaped and they change their colors slowly develop a white center.

• There are linear patches on arms and legs.

• There is a loss of hair and sweat glands in the affected area.

Morphea can self-resolve in 3 to 5 years.

Signs-

• Physical signs of skin help in diagnosis.

• Skin biopsy of the affected area help in confirming the diagnosis.

• Laboratory testing for antibodies. In this following antibodies are found in blood

• Anti Topoisomerase antibodies.

• Anticentromere antibodies.

• Anti-U3.

• Anti-R.

What are the complications of Morphea?

• Morphea is present on the skin around the joints can lead to difficulty in joint mobility and can impend walking.

• There are large areas spreads of hardened and discolored skin.

• When there are discolored patches present on skin, arms, face, legs then patient get negative about their cosmetic appearance and lead to negative self-esteem.

What is the prognosis?

In cases where disease reaches severe levels that are a larger area of skin is involved the prognosis is bad and can even lead to death.

Is Morphea life threatening?

No, Morphea scleroderma is entirely different from systemic scleroderma. This condition is not fatal.

Morphea is a type of localized scleroderma. It affects the skin and occasionally the underlying muscles and joints, which can result in this disability, however, it is not life-threatening.

Is Morphea an autoimmune disease?

Morphea (Localized Scleroderma) Morphea is an autoimmune disease that causes sclerosis, or scar like, changes in the skin. This is caused due to Autoimmune response.

How is Morphea diagnosed?

-Examination of the skin may be required.

-The physician may take a small sample of the affected skin (skin biopsy) for examination in the laboratory.

Is Morphea genetic?

The cause is still not known clearly as in why it happens, but it is thought that the collagen-producing cells can become overactive and may overproduce collagen thus leading to areas of sclerosis or skin hardening.

Is Morphea scleroderma?

Scleroderma means “hard skin.”

The terminology “morphea” is used interchangeably with localized scleroderma, creating some confusion.

How deadly is scleroderma?

Scleroderma can be disfiguring, debilitating and deadly. In the most serious cases, the disease causes severe damage and severe complications for the body’s other vital systems like digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems.

Can scleroderma go away?

No, Scleroderma is chronic. This means that it lasts for your lifetime. However, like other major diseases e.g.;- diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and psoriasis, scleroderma can be treated and the symptoms managed.

Is Scleroderma disease fatal?

Of all the rheumatologic diseases this is most fatal. Systemic scleroderma is very unpredictable although most cases can be classified into one of four different general patterns of disease, however, localized scleroderma does not cause internal organ involvement.

What is the differential diagnosis?

• Eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome.

• Eosinophilic fasciitis.

• Graft versus host disease.

• Niemann-Pick disease.

• Keloid and Hypertrophic scar.

• Lichen sclerosis et Atrophic.

• Ataxia-Telangiectasia.

• Amyloidosis, primary systemic.

• Phenylketonuria.

• Scleroderma.

• Werner syndrome.

• POEMS syndrome.

• Porphyria cutanea tarda.

• Winchester syndrome.