What course does lupus erythematosus pursue?
As a rule, the disease is persistent, although somewhat variable. At times the patches retrogress, involution taking place with or without slight sieve-like atrophy or scarring.
State the causes of lupus erythematosus.
The etiology is obscure. Some observers believe it to be a variety of cutaneous tuberculosis. It is essentially a disease of adult and middle age; is more common in women, and more frequent in those having a tendency to disorders of the sebaceous glands. It may, in fact, begin as a seborrhœa.
What is the pathology?
It was formerly considered a new growth, but recent opinion tends toward regarding it as a chronic inflammation of the cutis, superinducing degenerative and atrophic changes. Variable œdema of the prickle layer and of the cutis is found. There is no tendency to pus formation.
Fig. 42.
Lupus Erythematosus.
Is there any difficulty in the diagnosis of lupus erythematosus?