^ Fantastic post above; thanks neo_star. Can you explain why ischaemic ulceration and auto-amputation is a feature of scleroderma? Cheers
Yes, I will explain. Firstly we need to understand the difference between Raynaud's disease and Syndrome. Raynaud's disease aka primary raynaud's phenomenon is idiopathic i.e no identifiable cause to the vasospastic phenomenon Raynaud's syndrome alias "secondary raynaud's phenomenon" is just that - sec to something ex. arthrosclerosis, cervical rib etc. i.e there is an underlying reason for the ischemia. In the case of scleroderma ( an ex. of Raynaud's syndrome ) - there r 2 possibilities which r still being debated 1) autoimmune damage to blood vessels ( inner lining of small arterioles ), followed by fibrosis 2) periarteriolar fibrosis ( an extension of the same process happening in the dermis ), causing it to shut down. (Y) If u hav other views / insight...keep them without fear. This place is all about learning from each other (-:
