Morphea

Morphea is a form of scleroderma where there are isolated patches of hardened skin. The hardened skin layer contains deposits of collagen and is also referred to as localized scleroderma. There are various forms of clinical representations of the disease. In certain cases there are small plaques of morphea that involve only the skin, while on the other hand, there are several cases where  this form of scleroderma could lead to functional as well as cosmetic deformities.

Morphea is further classified into plaque, generalized, linear scleroderma, bullous and deep scleroderma. There may also be various cases where the patient is showing various forms of scleroderma and this is known as mixed morphea condition. It has been found that almost 15 percent of all patient showing signs of scleroderma will have the mixed type of disease.

There has been extensive research on finding the right treatment for this disease. This includes tropical, intralesional and systemic corticosteroids. There are many researches who also applied anti malarial drugs like chloroquine for the treatment of morphea, but eventually it was a systemic immunosuppression of scleroderma with the application of ultra violet light that has been effective in the treatment of this disease. Other methods involve inducing various enzymes that degrade the collagen matrix under the skin are also very effective.

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