Scleroderma means hard skin when directly translated. It is a disease that would cause the surfaces of your skin and other organs to harden into scar tissue and would usually involve pain and a lot of problems that would involve the affected organs. Scleroderma is most common in women that are between the ages 30 to 60 and rarely happens to children.
At most times, scleroderma would only affect a portion of the skin and is usually visible by tight skin in the face and on the fingers. If it starts affecting the organs, then that is a more sever case known as systemic sclerosis. This may affect the lungs, heart, intestines and the kidney. If the kidney is affected by sclerosis, this would limit the kidneys functions and as well could cause some pain to the patient. It could however be managed and dealt with medical approaches to scleroderma kidney involvement.
What Causes Scleroderma?
As of today, there is still no known cause for scleroderma. Medical experts however have developed numerous theories in attempt of knowing what the causes are. Some would say that it is largely genetic and that a patient of scleroderma would indicate that his or her relatives are also at danger of developing it. Another would say that it is largely environmental and that it is caused by factors that are influenced by the environment surrounding the patient.
A medical expert also theorized with the common category being women aged 30 to 60 as a basis that the fetal remnants left over that are still circulating in the bloodstream can cause sclerosis even after decades after giving birth. None of these theories however have been proven and as of now, the cause of sclerosis still remains unknown and is yet to be found.
How Does Scleroderma Affect The Kidneys?
While scleroderma would occur in the skin in around 95% of all cases, having it develop in the kidneys is also quite common for those who have it. Scleroderma mainly affects the blood vessels that are in the kidneys this of which is known as scleroderma renal crisis. This would lead to a sudden rise in blood pressure of the patient as well as a rapid decline in renal function that would happen over days. This may lead to complete renal failure that in turn can cause death.
Before, the leading cause of death for scleroderma victims was renal crisis. Fortunately, drugs of which are known as Angiotension Converting Enzyme Inhibitors or ACE inhibitors have lessened this number significantly and if that does not work, there are still other medications that would serve the purpose effectively. ACE inhibitors are also used commonly to treat high-blood pressure.
How Are Cases Concerning Kidneys Treated?
While scleroderma has no known cause, it also has no known cure. To relieve a patient from it, treatment for scleroderma would vary depending on the cases and on the individual. For cases concerning the kidneys, it focuses more on blood pressure control with the use of ACE inhibitors. As for people who develop side effects from it, they can use angiotensin receptor blockers. These are so effective and are known to have relieved a lot of patients from cases concerning kidneys.
These medicines however are only made to alleviate a patient from symptoms with the kidneys and are not made to completely relieve a patient from scleroderma.