CREST syndrome or limited scleroderma is an autoimmune disease affecting the connective tissue. Connecting tissue is the link between cells that binds them together. It is found all over your body, in the skin and in all your organs. This illness is quite severe that it would usually affect a lot of organs including the skin at the same time. Limited scleroderma would not only affect the skin but could work on a number of organs at the same time.
Limited scleroderma is very broad and the symptoms suffered by its patients would vary accordingly. For some, limited scleroderma would be very minor, although it can disable an individual and for others, it could be life changing and even fatal in some cases. As of now, this disease has no known cause. Treatments that are done for this is for managing symptoms and preventing it from complicating and not attempting to entirely remove the disease from the patient.
How Do You Know You Have It?
Crest has a distinct set of symptoms and with that, you would be easily able to identify if you have it with the presence of some symptoms. The first symptom is calcinosis which is the development of calcium deposits under the skin mainly on the fingers, knees and elbows. You can easily feel and see these deposits as the affected area is discolored and tender. These deposits can also form in the spine and on the legs.
Another visible symptom is known as Raynaud’s phenomenon, this which causes numbness, pain and discoloration in the fingers. This symptom is common among those who all types of scleroderma as it occurs to them at 95% of all cases. This is also usually the first symptom that would come out. Raynaud’s phenomenon mainly affects the blood vessels spasm having them limit blood flow that would result to the symptoms.
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