What Is Lupus Disease

Patients who have been diagnosed with lupus immediately wonder, what is lupus disease? The answer sounds simple, but the effects on those affected by lupus disease are anything but simple. Lupus is a chronic disease that results in inflammation in various areas of the body. This often includes the skin and joints, but lupus disease can also cause inflammation in the lungs, heart and other organs and even in the blood cells themselves. The widespread inflammation is caused by the body's own antibodies attacking itself as if it was a foreign invader. Lupus can go into remission, but it will flare up again without warning. 

There are four types of lupus disease. The most common form of the disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, is also the most serious. Other forms include neonatal lupus, drug-induced lupus erythematosus and systemic lupud erythematosus. 

One of the most serious complications of lupus disease is lupus nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys. About 50 percent of adults affected by lupus eventually develop lupus nephritis. In some patients, this leads to kidney failure.

Because the skin on the face and scalp are often inflamed by lupus disease, some degree of hair loss occurs in most patients. This generally affects the hair on the scalp, but it can also cause a loss of hair on the face, including the eyelashes and eyebrows. This hair loss is generally not permanent unless lesions are present in the areas of hair loss. The loss of hair is often what prompts sufferers to seek treatment and a diagnosis.