Per Mayo Clinic, symptoms of scleroderma include a tightening or hardening of the skin due to an overproduction of collagen — the name literally means "hard skin," via University of Michigan Health — and it affects more women than men, typically between the ages of 30 and 50 years of age. There is no cure.
In many people, according to the Mayo Clinic, scleroderma just affects the skin, making it appear tight and shiny (and potentially changing your appearance) and making it harder to move that part of your body. Raynaud's disease, where the tips of your fingers or toes go numb, contract, and change color, is often an early sign of scleroderma. In other people, scleroderma affects more than just the skin, in what is known as systemic scleroderma. The most serious form of scleroderma, systemic scleroderma can impact the function of the heart, lungs, kidneys, or digestive system and is potentially fatal.
Causing a whole host of other symptoms and complications, doctors are unsure what causes the rare affliction, but genetics plays a part. Exposure to certain chemicals may also trigger scleroderma, but most people diagnosed with the disorder do not have a history of exposure to problematic toxins, according to Rheumatology.
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