Scleroderma

Today, 12 patients with various skin problems came in for our dermatology class.  We listened to a short presentation by their physician, and then 10 of us got to touch, poke, and prod the patient.  Yes, I did feel kind of weird going up to the person and just touching their blister, nodule, scarring, or tumor, but it was definitely interesting and they said they were ok/used to it because they've done it before.  Anyhow, one of the most interesting cases as to be the patient with scleroderma.  It's a condition where your skin tightens up.  It may sound pretty good because it makes you look young since you don't get wrinkles (kind of like Botox!), but it's actually really life-changing because people lose their range of motion (can't bend joints), and because of loss of pigment, it can be pretty disfiguring.  What surprised me the most was the feeling of the patient's skin.  It was literally like touching marble.  It was that smooth and that hard.  The touch of the patient's hands was like touching a statue.  The scarring gets so bad that she can't move her fingers beyond a few centimeters.