Facial Telangiectasia as an Initial Notable Symptom of Systemic Sclerosis

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc), also called scleroderma, is a rare debilitating autoimmune disease of the connective tissue characterized by microvascular damage, specific immunologic abnormalities, and progressive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. The disease may be associated with serious visceral complications involving the pulmonary, gastrointestinal, cardiac and renal systems, why early identification is important. Cutaneous telangiectasia was originally one of the diagnostic criteria of the CREST syndrome (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasias), and is now included in the 2013 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria for the diagnosis of SSc. We report herein three cases of SSc who presented our department for telangiectasia, because eruptive telangiectasia on exposed area associated with high titer of antinuclear antibody could be the first sign of SSc.