Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about

discoid lupus erymatosis.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash d'L.E

or in the rheumatology section of the second edition of the Zero to Finals Medicine book.

So let's get straight into it.

Dicoid lupus erythematosis, or DLE, is an autoimmune chronic skin condition.

It's more common in women and typically presents between the ages of

20 and 50. It's more common in darker skinned patients and smokers. Discoid lupus is associated with an

increased risk of developing systemic lupus erythematosis. However, this risk is below 5%,

meaning that patients with discoid lupus have less than a 5% risk of developing SLE. Rarely, the lesions

can progress to squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, a type of skin cancer.

Let's talk about the presentation.

The lesions typically occur on the skin of the face, scalp and ears.

They are photosensitive, meaning that they're made worse or triggered by exposure to sunlight.

They're associated with scarring alopecia, which is scarring and hair loss in the affected areas.

And they're also associated with hyperpigmentation, which is increased pigmentation of the skin,

or hypopigmentation, which is reduced pigmentation of the skin or hypopigmentation, which is reduced pigmentation of the skin.

The appearance of the lesions or plaques are inflamed, dry, erythematosis or red, and scaling.

Finally, let's talk about management. A skin biopsy can be used to confirm the diagnosis and treatment is with sun protection, topical steroids, intralesional steroid

injections, whereas steroid is injected into the skin lesion, and hydroxychloroquine.

So thanks for listening to this episode on

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