“This may be followed by puffy or swollen hands before the skin becomes thickened and hard. The signs and symptoms of systemic scleroderma usually begin with episodes of Raynaud’s phenomenon, which can occur weeks to years before fibrosis. “The fibrosis is caused by the body’s production of too much collagen, which normally strengthens and supports connective tissues. According to the National Institutes for Health, the disorder is “characterized by the buildup of scar tissue in the skin and other organs.” Systemic scleroderma is an autoimmune disorder that affects the skin and internal organs. She had to move to Los Angeles to live with my parents because she needed so much help.
“She got treatment, but it was just treating her symptoms with drugs like prednisone and cortisone.
She was 44 when she was diagnosed with systemic scleroderma,” he told NIH Medline Plus Magazine in 2019. “My sister, Gay Saget, was a school teacher near Philadelphia.
