#Scleroderma – 7 Steps To Diagnosis

According to the Mayo Clinic, scleroderma can appear in different forms and vary from person to person. Since it may affect a wide range of body areas, it can be hard to properly diagnose.

Usually, doctors diagnose scleroderma using:

1. Your medical history
   Your doctor will want to fully understand your medical history
2. A thorough physical exam
   This will help your physician find the areas affected by scleroderma
3. Blood tests
   This is important to check for elevated blood levels of certain antibodies produced by the immune system
4. A skin biopsy
   A doctor may want to remove a sample (biopsy) of the affected area to be better examined and tested in a laboratory.
5. Breathing tests
   Like pulmonary function tests, and so on. (This may be only applicable in some cases.)
6. CT scan of your lungs
   (This may be only applicable in some cases.)
7. Echocardiogram of your heart
   (This may be only applicable in some cases.)

Learn more about scleroderma here: http://bit.ly/learnscleroderma